Eastern Ontario town offers $280k bonus to attract doctors, but still can't find takers

A town in eastern Ontario is feeling the doctor shortage, even though doctors who move there can receive generous bonus packages of up to $281,000.

Marmora, Ont., which is just north of Belleville, offers doctors a bonus of $100,000 if they agree to move there for five years. Hastings County also offers a $100,000 bonus over five years and the provincial will give doctors another $81,000 over four years in additional funding if they move to the area.

Despite the generous package, clinics say they have not been able to hire new doctors.

Dr. Emily Callery says the hunt has been on for years to replace two physicians at the Central Hastings Family Health Team clinic.

"We’re just not getting enough new graduates interested in family medicine," she explains. "Forty-three per cent down to 33 per cent of new graduates are picking family medicine because of growing demands on the profession, our costs, our office overhead."

Callery is one of two doctors at the clinic—it used to hold four—and says there are 1,000 people who have registered as needing a doctor in the area. Marmora has a population of around 4,000 people.

"Every day we get asked to see or maybe add on patients," she says. "It’s kind of heartbreaking because you know that that person really often has health issues that are not going to be addressed."

Mayor Jan O’Neill says she understands that living in a rural area can create barriers for some, especially those with families. That's why Marmora also offers up a rent-free home and clinic to work out of to entice doctors to stay long-term.

"We’re doing that because the health and wellbeing of our community is so important, and we do have a senior population," she says.

For years, there have been no takers.

Dr. Janet Webb, a family physician in nearby Madoc, Ont. says a decline in doctors going in to family medicine is an issue across the province.

"There has been, over the years, a deficit of medical students wanting to go into family practice, so I think across Ontario you see less family doctors available," she explains.

Madoc also offers a generous benefit package. The two areas are under one health team and rely on each other for coverage and share resources like a dietician, social workers, and other health professionals.

Two more doctors here are set to retire soon in Madoc as well, potentially leaving thousands more without a doctor in the next five years.

"It’s huge, it’s huge," says Webb.

Callery says the hunt will continue to bring doctors to the area, for everyone's sake.

"We want to stay healthy but we sort of also want to keep ourselves healthy in the first place. So it’s pretty critical."