B.C. election: Doctors press parties for primary care plans [Video]

More than 700,000 British Columbians don’t have a family doctor and two physicians’ groups want to know how the province’s political parties plan to address the crisis.

BC Family Doctors and the College of Family Physicians say they expect increasing access to primary care should be a campaign issue.

“I think its going to be a huge issue,” said Maryam Zeineddin, the president of BC Family Doctors on Wednesday.

“I think if they don’t bring that up, well, then, they’ve missed the boat.”

The province’s new payment model, implemented 16 months ago, has attracted more than 800 doctors to family practice. More than 200,000 patients have been connected to primary care in that same period.

“We’ve kind of stopped the bleeding, but we need to take care of the wound,” said Zeineddin.

And she notes, nearly 40 percent of family doctors in the province are set to retire or reduce …