Organization for rural MDs focuses "on problems that separate us from our urban counterparts"

Physicians in rural Canada face much different problems than their counterparts in large cities, a recent conference for rural physicians was told. For instance, rural areas may be decimated by funding caps because "they didn't have any resources to give up in the first place," said Dr. Ken Babey. He said rural physicians don't want to create divisiveness between urban and rural doctors, "but people don't realize that when they do something that has a big impact on the doctors who practise in cities and suburban areas, it has a disastrous impact on us." Rural doctors are attempting to organize so they can present a united front; in Nova Scotia, physicians recently formed a Section of Rural Practice.