Hundreds of thousands of British Columbians do not have a family doctor and the provincial government needs to rectify the situation immediately, says the leader of the B.C. Green Party.

Hundreds of thousands of British Columbians do not have a family doctor and the provincial government needs to rectify the situation immediately, says the leader of the B.C. Green Party.

Sonia Furstenau, the leader of the B.C. Greens and MLA for Cowichan Valley said up to 900,000 provincial residents need a physician and called on the B.C. NDP to overhaul the province's current fee-for-service model — saying the restructuring is critically needed to attract and retain doctors because the shortage is predicted to keep growing.

Under the model, doctors and hospitals are paid by the province for each office visit, test or operation. To stay afloat, she says, they need to continuously work through a high volume of patients and run a business at the same time.

This model, said Furstenau, is turning prospective doctors away from B.C. and also leaves those fortunate enough to have a doctor right now afraid of what will happen when their physician retires.

Furstenau noted the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of British Columbians has yet to be fully realized and said, in combination with growing wealth inequality and an aging population, that will put further strain on an already stressed system.