TIMMINS — The recent wave of flight delays and cancellations is not just impacting vacationers and business travellers. It is taking a serious toll on emergency rooms across Northern Ontario, says local MP Charlie Angus.
The Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay says many “locums”—the out-of-town doctors who fly north to cover emergency ward shifts—have been bumped from recent flights, adding to the healthcare crisis in Northern Ontario.
In a statement released Tuesday, Angus called on regional air carriers to give priority seating to locums, ensuring they arrive on time for their critical shifts.
“I am asking airlines to ensure that doctors who are coming north to deliver medical services are given a priority for getting on flights,” Angus says. “We all recognize that the airlines are facing a number of logistical issues but we need to work together to ensure that locums are being flown in to do their work.”
Across Ontario, a number of small-town hospitals have been forced to shut emergency ward services. Angus says the uncertainty over flights is becoming a major disincentive for doctors who would normally be recruited to smaller, more isolated emergency wards.
“Ontario’s health care system is in crisis right now,” he says. “These shortfalls need to be taken very seriously. I am asking the regional carriers to do what they can to ensure that doctors who are booked for work in the north are able to make it to their destinations.”
