Kamloops doctors refused ‘generous offer’ before resignation: Interior Health

Resignation letters from seven maternity specialists has Interior Health turning to find replacements and it could be costly, but the health authority said the doctors refused a “generous offer” before giving their collective notice earlier this month.

Concerned about being stretched thin by the workload, the doctors gave Interior Health notice they would be giving up their hospital privileges. That was after failed attempts to negotiate a new compensation model and requests for more local specialists.

According to Kamloops Centre Conservative MLA Peter Milobar, the province pulled out of a deal more than a year ago before local negotiations failed this fall, but health ministry spokespeople deferred to Interior Health when contacted for an explanation. The health authority then said it was the doctors who rejected the province’s offer.

“The Ministry of Health has made a generous contract offer to this group which was rejected and after which we received the obstetrician gynecologist (OB/GYN) group’s resignation letter. As such, (Interior Health) has moved quickly to assume responsibility for recruitment to support a phased transition in early 2026,” Interior Health’s vice-president of medicine Dr. Mark Masterson said in a written statement.

A specialist could earn a salary of around $600,000, according to Interior Health’s current job posting, but that doesn’t account for overhead costs and is far above the amount any of the seven current specialists earn. Before expenses, their gross incomes averaged around $422,000 last year, according to provincial government statistics.

In a recent news release, the specialists said they frequently work 60 to 80 hours per week while balancing on-call duties, surgical work and and their own clinics.

Meanwhile, Interior Health hasn’t recruited more doctors to alleviate the workload, other than some “inadequate” locum support, according to the doctors’ Oct. 20 release.

iNFOnews.ca has reached out to each of the seven specialists, but they did not make themselves available to respond to shed more light on Interior Health’s claim of a “generous offer.”

“Our focus has always been and continues to be obtaining safe care for our patients, a manageable workload and recruitment. To us everything else is secondary,” Dr. Erin Adams said in an emailed statement on behalf of the group.

As is common for doctors negotiating with the province, they have retained a lawyer to work out a new agreement.

While Interior Health has started its own efforts to hire new doctors, the offer to the seven Kamloops specialists still stands. Interior Health’s Masterson said the health authority is open to discussing changes to the on-call arrangement. When negotiations will begin again in earnest isn’t clear.

Health Minister Josie Osborne said this week Interior Health has 12 interested doctors as it looks to recruit replacements for Kamloops, but few of them are approved for practice in Canada, according to MLA Milobar.

Whether the same issues will persist with new doctors to replace the current specialists also isn’t clear.