Doctor shortage forces Nunavik patients to Montreal

MONTREAL — Last year, the number of Nunavik patients transferred to Montreal rose by 30 per cent, so it’s unlikely that the region’s need for patient services in Montreal is going to decrease any time soon.

The unprecedented numbers of Nunavimmiut receiving treatment in Montreal is due to “a convergence of many elements,” explains Dr. Normand Tremblay, a medical advisor to the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services.

These include easier access to Montreal from Nunavik, its larger resident population of Inuit (about 800), improved screening in the North, and, most importantly, a shortage of front-line resident doctors in Nunavik.

The double whammy of finding and keeping doctors is finally hitting Nunavik hard. The region now has only six doctors, compared with 15 only two years ago.

That’s because Nunavik has become much harder sell to doctors, Tremblay said.

“It’s less exotic, less remote than it used to be,” Tremblay said. “And for some it’s lost its charm.”

Due to this decrease, there’s more pressure on the remaining doctors, and perhaps, suggests Tremblay, more of a tendency to send patients South for a check-up.

Just before Christmas, there were about 130 Nunavik patients and patient escorts in Montreal as this has become pretty much the norm.

Since Nunavik House can only take around 50 people, many patients and escorts are sent on to Montreal hotels and two smaller homes — an expensive and logistically complicated solution.

Nunavik House, already plagued by controversy, may, in fact, just be the “first phase” of a number of similarily large residences for Nunavimmiut, as the Nunavik health board scrambles to meet the explosive need for patient services in Montreal.

The Northern Module, or the Module du Nord, which oversees patient services in Montreal, has already felt the strain of the increased numbers, and has had to hire another nurse and another interpreter.

Caroline Oblin, a social worker with the module, said she always used to take the week before Christmas off because it was so quiet, but this year at least 30 people would be in the Montreal over the holidays.