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
'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
'Sophisticated' cyberattacks detected on B.C. government networks, premier says
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Police handcuff man trying to enter Drake's Toronto mansion
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if they launch major invasion of Rafah
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Canucks beat Oilers 5-4 in comeback to take Game 1
The Vancouver Canucks won the first game of their NHL playoffs series with the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 on Wednesday night coming back from a three-goal deficit.
Nijjar murder suspect says he had Canadian study permit in immigration firm's video
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer agrees to settle more than 10K lawsuits over Zantac cancer risk: Bloomberg News
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec premier defends new museum on Quebecois nation after Indigenous criticism
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
U.S. presidential candidate RFK Jr. had a brain worm, has recovered, campaign says
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.