Dermatologist threatens to leave the province over 'restriction' on his services.

• Author: Krejlgaard, Chris
• Position: Jean-Pierre Donahue

Northeastern Ontario was on the brink of losing its only full-time dermatologist late last month, and the Sudbury-area medical community is blaming the Ministry of Health.

Dr. Jean-Pierre Donahue had threatened to close up his practice on Nov. 29 and leave Sudbury for the U.S. after failing to resolve a six-month battle with the ministry over a threshold billing provision which is part of the present agreement between the province and the Ontario Medical Association (OMA).

Donahue's departure would leave the Sudbury Region with only one part-time dermatologist. The balance of northeastern Ontario is also serviced by fly-in dermatologists.

His frustration with the billing system is shared by many specialists in Northern Ontario, according to Dr. Killion de Blacam, president of the Sudbury and District Medical Society.

"There's going to be chaos after Christmas," de Blacam stated, predicting that more doctors will follow Donahue's lead as fiscal year-end (April) approaches.

"We're going to lose some key specialists," he said.

de Blacam issued this warning earlier in the year in a letter addressed to the Ministry of Health.

Donahue, meanwhile, claimed that he will have no trouble moving his practice to the States.

"I have a lot of places to select from," he said as he flipped through a listing of job openings at U.S. hospitals. "I get calls at least twice a month from recruiters in the U.S. asking me if I'd be interested in going there. I don't have to go looking; they come to me."

Donahue admitted, however, that job prospects would not be as promising for his 14 staff members in Sudbury.

"With the amount of working capital reduced and the atmosphere of restraint right now, no hospital or medical office is going to hire them," he predicted. "And if they are hired, it's going to be either at the bottom of the ladder or part-time jobs."

SERVICE RESTRICTION

One day prior to making the announcement of his departure, Donahue charged that threshold billing is a restriction of service.

"They (the government) are telling the doctor that you can only see a certain number of patients, but they just don't come out and say it," he said. "It's a rationing of health care. They're just not telling anyone."

However, a spokesman for provincial Health Minister Frances Lankin, disputed Donahue's claim.

"The sky is the limit," said Paul Howard, the minister's communication's adviser, pointing to the incremental nature of the agreement.

Under the terms of the...