By Angela Brown

SMA meets with local doctors on fall tour

Sep 14, 2017 | 11:59 AM

Doctors from the local area are voicing their concerns about proposed federal tax changes that could impact their livelihood.

This was one of the issues discussed at Tuesday’s meeting in North Battleford during the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) annual tour to meet with member physicians in the health regions across the province. Roughly 25 area doctors attended the event. 

The SMA acts as a voice for physicians in the province and lobbies on their behalf.

“We go out to each of the regions for individual meetings with our physicians to update them on what the SMA has been doing, and hear from them what their local problems on the ground are, so we can best represent our members,” SMA president Dr. Joanne Sivertson said. Siverston is based in Prince Albert.

On the issue of corporate taxation changes proposed by the federal government, many doctors are concerned the changes will negatively impact their business and future plans.  

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Sivertson said physicians’ ability to incorporate was negotiated with the provincial government “to allow physicians to save money in their corporations, to save for retirement, for pension plans and other such things that we don’t get as physicians.”

“Changing the ability to save money within a corporation does have the potential to negatively impact physicians in what they can re-invest into their business,” she added.

As a result, the SMA is working with the Canadian Medical Association, which is working with 50 other groups across Canada that support small business concerns, in opposing the proposed changes.

“We are adding our voice (and) asking our physicians to raise their concerns with their local MPs, if they feel these changes will affect their ability to provide care,” Sivertson said.

The issue of doctor recruitment was also discussed at the meeting.

“We’re certainly in a better place than we were several years ago,” Sivertson said.

Despite recent hires, she said the province remains behind average when it comes to physicians per capita. 

“We still struggle to maintain our services in smaller rural centres, but there are some specialties where we are now fully staffed,” she said. Another concern is the province’s plan to amalgamate to one single health authority.

Prairie North’s Regional Medical Association (RMA) president Dr. Melissa Gieni said preventing physician burnout was another topic to come up.

Gieni said the SMA has physician wellness programs in place so doctors can access resources for financial matters, mental health issues, or anything else that may be hindering their practice. 

“We do use the Saskatchewan Medical Association to support our colleagues for those particular issues,” she said.

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW