8,000 patients will soon be without a family doctor as six doctors retire in Kingston, Ont.
In just a matter of weeks, thousands of people in Kingston, Ont. will not have a family doctor.
Six physicians from a downtown clinic are set to retire, and no replacements are set to take over.
Inside the Frontenac Medical Associates office, the waiting room holds official letters from the office, listing the doctors who will no longer be practising as of May 27.
Patient Jenna Ayoub is one of those who will be affected. She says she was notified in a letter earlier this year that her physician, Dr. Nicholas Cristoveanu, would be one of those doctors.
"Upsetting," Ayoub says of the situation. "He is fantastic."
In all, six doctors are set to retire, leaving 8,000 patients without one.
Ayoub explains that she has been going to Dr. Cristoveanu for decades, and her husband and daughters use the clinic.
Getting emotional during the interview with CTV Ottawa News, she says Dr. Cristoveanu deserves retirement and is a wonderful physician, but she is also concerned about joining the list of those who no longer have one.
"Terrifying in the sense that I also have two children that it’s like, ‘Oh, what do I do with you now?’ 17 and 13, 'where do I take you if you suddenly get sick?’ I’ve never had to use the emergency room for anything other than a broken bone."
A study released in 2020, completed by Kingston Area Health Care Taskforce and the Kingston Community Health Centre, showed 29,000 people in the city don’t have a local doctor.
Dr. Cristoveanu has been practising for more than 40 years. He says many of the other retiring doctors at the Frontenac Medical Clinic began their practice together.
They have been searching for replacements for at least five years, with no success.
“Putting ads in the medical journals, talking to residents, doing recruiting services, looking overseas, to attract family doctors to eventually take over,” Dr. Cristoveanu says of the process. "But unfortunately, it reached a tipping point where we couldn’t find anybody."
The city’s $2 million program to recruit new doctors has resulted in nine new family physicians moving here, but those doctors have only been able to cover other retirements and not take on new patients.
It’s a province-wide problem, not enough family doctors are graduating to replace those retiring.
"We’re very worried about what happens to our patients," Dr. Cristoveanu says. "That’s probably our biggest worry and why we delayed until we had to, in a way, to call it."
The clinic will have just two doctors by the end of May, so a wing of the office will close in the next few weeks.
Ayoub says her doctor deserves a peaceful retirement, but wonders about the future of healthcare for thousands of patients in Kingston.
"Everybody deserves a physician,” she says.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
India's foreign minister reacts to murder charges, claims Canada welcomes criminals
India's Foreign Affairs Minister accused Canada of welcoming criminals from his country in response to the RCMP's recent arrests in a homicide that has roiled tensions between the two countries.
15-year-old boy stabbed in Ottawa on Thursday dies
A 15-year old boy who was critically injured after a stabbing in Nepean on Thursday has died of his injuries, Ottawa's English public school board said Sunday.
Dash cam catches moment suspected drunk driver hits parked car, sends it careening into North Shore flower shop
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
Actor Bernard Hill, of 'Titanic' and 'Lord of the Rings,' has died at 79
Actor Bernard Hill, who delivered a rousing cry before leading his people into battle in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' and went down with the ship as the captain in 'Titanic,' has died.
'A tiny city:' Pro-Palestinian campus protesters organize for another week
Pro-Palestinian activists have set up tents at universities in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal, following a wave of similar protests at campuses in the United States linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
Lawsuit against Meta asks if Facebook users have right to control their feeds using external tools
Do social media users have the right to control what they see — or don't see — on their feeds?
A Holocaust survivor will mark that history differently after the horrors of Oct. 7
This year's Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins on Sunday evening in Israel, carries a heavier weight than usual for many Jews around the world.
Princess Anne lays wreath at Battle of Atlantic ceremony; honours late Queen
Princess Anne saluted Canadian veterans and current forces members and honoured her late mother during separate ceremonies Sunday in Victoria as she wrapped up a three-day British Columbia West Coast royal visit.
El Nino weakening doesn't mean cooler temperatures this summer, forecasters say
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.