Saanich doctor says radical solutions needed for Vancouver Island's doctor shortage

A Saanich, B.C., doctor who is planning to retire and sell his family practice says the province needs to take a more radical approach to finding solutions to help resolve a growing shortage of family physicians in B.C.’s capital region.

“I think there are lots of solutions but they have to really, really examine what they’re doing because they’re not really solving the problem,” says Dr. Peter Vizsolyi.

He’s been working in the region for 40 years. The 66-year-old says he thought he’d retire when someone bought the land his clinic operates on, but with that time approaching on June 1, he’s decided to extend his career into, at least, October.

Vizsolyi will move his patients from the medical office near Quadra and Cook streets to the Burnside Family Medical Clinic instead – hoping it gives him more time to find someone to buy his practice or give his patients time to find a replacement.

“When I started in Victoria, they had the idea we were over-doctored. You couldn’t get a billing number, so you couldn’t bill MSP unless you took over someone who was retiring a practice and they sold it to you,” he says. “But now you can’t give away a practice.”

It’s estimated there are 100,000 people in Greater Victoria who are without a family doctor.

Shelley Kliewer says she lost her doctor to retirement three years ago and has been looking for a new one ever since. For now, she relies on walk-ins.

“Lining up at clinics, waiting and waiting to see anybody, is ridiculous,” she says.

The province has been throwing money at the crisis, recently announcing $3.4 million to support five capital region walk-ins.

But Dr. Vizsolyi says family medicine needs a closer look.

He thinks an incentive fund could be part of the solution – starting at $100,000 – so new doctors might be able to manage student debts and the high cost of living enough to consider doing business here.

And he says he’s still optimistic he’ll find a doctor willing to take over his practice.