Bidding for doctors is bad: Letter to the Editor

Napanee has followed many other Ontario communities in offering a signing bonus to a new doctor (Napanee lures doctor to community, Whig-Standard, May 15, 2007). I think we should consider what may happen if local communities continue to spend money to recruit or provide financial incentives to new physicians. First, it would not be surprising if more affluent communities had sufficient numbers of physicians while less affuent communities did not. That would threaten the universality guaranteed in the 1984 Canada Health Act. Secondly, bidding against our neighbours in an auction for physician’s services could be an expensive way to get medical care. If we’re ready to spend money on incentives, we might save ourselves some money by getting together, as an entire province, and asking if physicians are being compensated enough in the first place. I don’t know what the best answer is to our physician shortage, but pitting one town against its neighbour doesn’t seem to take us in the right direction.