The warden of the Municipality of the District of Guysborough says municipal officials have requested a meeting with the province’s health minister.
Vernon Pitts says they’re concerned by the situation involving doctors at Guysborough Memorial Hospital and Eastern Memorial Hospital in Canso.
He says he’s been told one of two doctors in Guysborough is retiring, while two of the three doctors working in Canso are retiring.
After February’s regular council meeting Wednesday afternoon, Pitts said they sent a letter to Randy Delorey, the province’s health minister and the MLA for Antigonish.
“We want to meet with the minister,” he said. “We want to find out exactly where we are now, what is the plan going forward, and is there any way we can buy into it.”
Pitts said the impending doctor situations in the two communities has them up against the wall.
He said they need their provincial counterparts to do something.
“Here we are, stepping up to the plate, doing the heavy lifting, infusing the cash to recruit doctors and nurses,” he said. “That is not our forte, that is not our business- that is the province’s business, and we have to hold their feet to the fire.”
Pitts said they believe they’ve addressed the RN situation at Eastern Memorial that has led to overnight closures at Canso’s hospital since May.
He said three new nurses have agreed to work in Canso in the coming months, and it’s good news, but it won’t be enough to re-open the hospital overnight if they don’t resolve the doctor situation.
