Colwood, B.C. very close to hiring 2 more doctors for city-owned clinic [Video]

A British Columbia city on Vancouver Island that’s hiring doctors as municipal employees is “very close” to hiring two more physicians, and its mayor believes it will eventually exceed its goal of hiring eight in total.

Colwood Mayor Doug Kobayashi said Monday that the city-owned clinic currently has one doctor, and employment contracts are soon to be inked with two more, while a fourth is expected to be on board by September.

Kobayashi said other cities are continuing to inquire about replicating its model to attract doctors by signing them on as city employees.

“We gave ourselves two years to recruit all eight doctors and I think we’re going to be able to beat that,” he said.

Kobayashi said they’ve have had a lot of applications, but they’re only trying to recruit from out-of-province to avoid poaching physicians with active practices in other B.C. communities.

“You don’t rob Peter to …