Chris Lowrey
PONTIAC Sept. 13, 2017
Compared to the rest of the Outaouais region, the Pontiac has a higher percentage of residents with a family doctor.
Quebec Health Minister Gaétan Barrette has made it a goal of the provincial government to ensure that 85 per cent of Quebec residents have a family doctor by Jan. 1 of 2018.

In the Pontiac, nearly 84 per cent of residents have a family doctor. In the Outaouais region as a whole, the rate is just under 75 per cent.
In order to get to the magic 85 per cent number, 235 Pontiac residents will need to find family doctors by the new year. According to Lotus Clinic representative Joanne Romain, getting to 85 per cent is not an impossible task.
“We have two doctors here actively taking on patients,” Romain said.
She said one doctor in the region who’s been here for over a year has already taken on 500 patients while the other new doctor has garnered nearly 200 patients since April.
“It’s a lot better than in the city. It’s just that we had doctors leave the area so that put more patients on the waiting list.”
However, the clinic does have more people on the waiting list than the 235 needed to get to 85 per cent. Romain said the clinic would ideally like to see 100 per cent of residents with a family doctor.
Overall, there are 782 people in the Pontiac looking for a family doctor.
Hull-Gatineau, on the other hand, is struggling with nearly 30 per cent of residents without a family doctor. More than 30,000 people would need to find a family doctor by the new year for that region to reach 85 per cent.
In the Outaouais region in general, nearly 38,000 people would need to get a family doctor by the new year to meet the 85 per cent goal set by Barrette.
Vallée-de-la-Gatineau is the only region in the Outaouais with more than 85 per cent of its population who have a family doctor.