Enderby doctor wait

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Fingers crossed, the City of Enderby may have word of a new doctor in the New Year, according to Coun. Brian Schreiner.

Schreiner joined Interior Health officials last month for interviews with five prospective candidates, all from the foreign doctor program.

Two were short-listed, but Enderby will get only one.

“They were both very eager about Enderby,” said Schreiner. “They did a lot of research and are anxious to come here.”

“We're hoping to have someone in place by the fall of 2016,” he said, pointing to the long process a successful candidate will undergo to be licensed in Canada.

“My job was to represent the city and try to get someone who we feel might stay. We feel there's a lot to offer here. There's a lot of recreation and stuff and it's close to Vernon and Kelowna and an airport.

“It's a place where someone could raise a family in a small-town environment.”

Schreiner said both candidates had prior experience in a rural community and with indigenous communities.

It is expected a new doctor would work part-time in Enderby and part-time at the Splatsin First Nation medical facility.

Under the foreign doctor program, physicians moving from another country must agree to work three years in a rural community in order to receive a certificate to practice in Canada.