Port McNeill needs doctors.
For a while there, it looked like Dr. Pream Armogam was going to be the only one in town. But Island Health has just announced that two new doctors will be coming to Port McNeil over the next few weeks and they’ll be working out of a new clinic on Broughton Blvd.
Port McNeill Mayor Gaby Wickstrom told the North Island Gazette that this isn’t a long-term solution, but it really helps.
People in Port McNeill have been worried about having enough doctors for years. One doctor who has been working in Port McNeill for the past two years is leaving at the end of the month. Dr. Armogam has been living and working in Port McNeill for 15 years, but his clinic was so overworked that they almost shut down last December.
Starting May 19, people in Port McNeill will be able to book an appointment with one of the two new doctors by calling 1-866-956-2007.
Dr. Nicole Bennett-Boutilier will start seeing patients in the clinic and helping at the hospital at the end of May, and Dr. John Fitzgerald will start seeing patients at the clinic in June.
Dr. Armogam isn’t going anywhere for now. He will still see patients at the Port McNeill Medical Collaborative. But so far Island Health hasn’t asked him to be part of their clinic.
