Photo: Contributed

If you’re living in Central Okanagan and don’t have a family physician, your chances of landing one just improved.

The Central Okanagan Division of Family Practice, in collaboration with Interior Health and the International Medical Graduate program, has recruited seven general practitioners to the region. Six have already started seeing patients, and the seventh will start Sept. 1. The CODFP has started the Central Okanagan “Find a Family Doctor” Program, which can be filled out online.

Dr. Milt Stevenson, a retired Kelowna physician who leads the recruitment charge, doesn’t plan on stopping here. There are an estimated 35,000 people in Central Okanagan who don’t have a family doctor, although Dr. Stevenson believes 10 to 12 per cent of that group does not want one for various reasons.

“I want to get it to the point where everyone who wants a family physician in the Central Okanagan can find a family physician—within reason,” Dr. Stevenson said. “Whether we’ll fully achieve that … but if you can get the number down to say four or five per cent it’s sort of like unemployment. You’re never going to get full employment, and it’s probably the same with this. It’s just human nature.”

Read more on Okanagan Edge.