COUNTY council is giving $100,000 to help Norfolk General Hospital recruit doctors to the county.

The county currently has 34 primary care doctors, eight fewer than it should have for its population of about 70,000.

Seventeen per cent of residents don’t have a family doctor.

And four doctors are older than 65.

Norfolk General Hospital spends about $500,000 a year recruiting doctors to come to the county, hospital officials told county councillors last Tuesday.

Nine doctors have been recruited in the last seven years.

Much more can be done. Recruitment events take place in Canada, the U.S. and overseas, said Carolynn Beam, NGH physician recruiter.

In March, county council budgeted $250,000 for doctor recruitment.

The money came from a provincial grant to help municipalities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Councillors last Tuesday voted to give $100,000 to Norfolk General Hospital’s recruitment campaign.

They will decide what to do with the remaining $150,000 after Ontario’s new Primary Care Action Team issues a report.

The action team headed by Dr. Jane Philpott aims to connect every Ontario resident with a primary care doctor within five years.

Port Dover Coun. Adam Veri voted against giving $100,000 to NGH’s recruitment campaign.

It was not clear what the hospital would do with the money, Coun. Veri said in an interview.

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Originally published December 24, 2024