How to find a family doctor in Toronto
To get medical care on time, you need your own family doctor in Canada. But finding one can be a real quest.
Canada does not have enough doctors compared to other developed countries. According to a World Bank study, in 2010 there were 2.1 doctors per 1,000 people. By comparison:
- in Ireland — 3.2 per 1,000 people;
- in Israel — 3.7;
- in Germany — 3.7;
- in New Zealand — 2.7;
- in Australia — 3.9.
There are many reasons for this phenomenon in Canada, but one of the main reasons is financial. The Canadian government is trying to control health care costs so that they do not eat up too much of provincial budgets. In Ontario, for example, faced with a recession and rising health care costs, Prime Minister Bob Rae proposed a solution in 1992: limit the number of doctors by reducing the number of high school graduates. The policy continued under the Conservative government of Mike Harris and was only partially changed by later Ontario governments.
But what should ordinary Canadians do in this situation? What steps can be taken?
Visiting the clinic
No, it's not the same as having a family doctor. But it is how you can get operative medical care in case of emergencies. Even if you don't have a regular family doctor, you will get the attention and support you need. In addition, many clinics also have family practices. You may be able to find a family doctor there in the future, but it will take time.
Health Care Connect
This program is a service that can help you find the right doctor for you and your whole family. However, this process includes a rigorous vetting process that you must be sure to pass. You will need to prove that you have actively sought out a family practitioner. You must also have a valid OHIP card. If you do not have a valid OHIP card, you must contact the Service INFO to get information on how to obtain one.
Your Care Connector will carefully review all the information and may even request additional interviews with you and your family. The Care Connector will then contact local physicians to determine who is accepting new patients.
Start the search yourself
You can go ahead and open the list of doctors practicing in Toronto and start calling them. But be aware that there are more than 7,000 specialists on the list, and the vast majority of them are not accepting new patients. According to Statscan, only one in ten doctors in Ontario accepts new patients. That said, more than a million people are looking for a family doctor.
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A site called opencare.com also provides a search engine to help you find a doctor in Toronto. But here the situation is the same: You can spend dozens of hours searching and still not find a free doctor.
Searching for a physician by language
This is another way to find the perfect doctor for you — focus not only on qualifications, but also on the language of communication. To do this, go to cpso.on.ca under "Doctor search" and click on "Switch to advanced search". There, among other options, you can select the language of communication. For example, in the Toronto area, you will find 24 family doctors who speak Hindi and 74 doctors who speak Cantonese. Whether any of them are accepting new patients is another question.
The list of available languages is quite extensive, but some languages may have few practitioners. But even if you can't find a family doctor who accepts new patients and speaks your language, try multilingual clinics.
Pharmacies
Another useful resource is iamsick.ca. This site provides, for example, information about pharmacy hours and clinic hours for Newcomers who are still trying to understand Canada's health care system.
No matter how you look at it, all of these cases will require your active participation. But these efforts will be fully justified when you have a regular family doctor and can call for help at any time.
