Local Doctor says staffing crisis at home and abroad is nothing new – calls for immediate action by the Ford government

The CO-Chair of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians isn’t mincing words when it comes to why there’s a shortage of health care staff province-wide and across the country.

Perth’s Dr. Allan Drummond says the way healthcare staff has been treated hasn’t been right for years.

Drummond says rural hospitals seem to be of lesser significance to the powers that be in the government, and the result is several closing their emergency departments in recent days and weeks.

The doctor says healthcare workers have been so stressed that in the end they just go with the status quo.

Many leave the profession because of it.

Drummond is blunt too when it comes to his assessment of how the Ford Government has been dealing with staffing shortages across the health care system. He didn’t mince words.

Drummond tells Lake 88 News the problem stretches back to well before the pandemic. COVID-19 fueled the fire.