CALEB NICKERSON
SHAWVILLE Nov. 13, 2019
The Pontiac region was hit with more bad news this past week as it was announced that . . .
two of the five doctors in the obstetrics unit at the Pontiac Community Hospital (PCH) would be leaving by year’s end, in addition to another breach in surgical and obstetrics services.
The news of the two physicians leaving was broken by Radio-Canada last week, and CISSSO spokesperson Marie-Pier Després confirmed in an email to THE EQUITY that the doctors would be departing in December.
She added that CISSSO had known about the departures since mid-October, and said that they would be reorganizing the schedule to guarantee services until the end of January. She also added that the departures “were not related to the situation in the obstetrics department.”
A press release issued by Josey Bouchard, spokesperson for citizens group Voix Pontiac Voice, disputed that statment.
“Sources have told us that the lack of support in last few years has taken their [toll] and they have decided to throw in the towel,” the release states. “We cannot blame doctors, nurses and other professionals for being so upset, after all they have been keeping our services alive for years.”
Despré noted the efforts CISSSO has been making to hire more nurses and doctors and added that the first cohort of doctors from McGill University’s satellite campus in Gatineau will start next year, and added that they hope some will stay in the region.
In addition to this latest bad news, another interruption to general surgery services took place over the weekend, from 4 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday. The interruption to surgery also caused the obstetrical unit to close as well, as there was no surgeon on duty to perform emergency caesarean sections.
On Monday CISSSO announced that another break in obstetrics services would take place from 8 p.m. that day to 8 p.m. Wednesday, due to a lack of nurses in the unit.
This marks the seventh service interruption in just over a month, as CISSSO struggles to find rural workers in the midst of a provincial labour shortage.
Two obstetrics nurses from the Jewish Hospital in Montreal were temporarily transferred to PCH earlier this month to bolster the staff in the unit, a solution officials called temporary.
