Just minutes after the location for a new hospital was announced, the Opposition hammered government on recruitment of health care staff during Question Period on the first day of the fall sitting of the House of Assembly.

Opposition Leader Tony Wakeham questioned the Premier on government’s Human Resource Plan while some 170,000 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians remain unattached to a family physician.

NLMA President Dr. Steve Major told VOCM News that government has created an unlevel playing field by offering doctors incentives to join family care teams, leaving many rural areas without a family physician.

Opposition Leader Tony Wakeham raised the matter today.

“We are the second-worst province in Canada in access to a primary health care provider” says Wakeham quoting figures from CIHI. “Of the 23 family care teams that you have announced, can you confirm that only six are fully staffed?”

The Premier indicated that he was happy to announce “that today, just a few months after we introduced a brand new concept, over 62,000 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are attached to family care teams. We’re increasing the human resources attached to them Madam Speaker, like Grand Falls-Windsor, three new doctors attached to that family care team just last week.”