Medical services returned to the Siksika Nation

Page 2

Medical services at the Siksika Nation are back on track after four doctors quit their practice on the southern Alberta reserve in dispute over rent at their band-funded clinic.

The band has negotiated contracts with the two new doctors, including an obstetrician, for what amounts to full-time medical coverage, said Dexter Redgun, a medical spokesman for the band.

"There was never any interruption of service," Redgun said.

Siksika's original doctors left the reserve after the band council asked them to pay $25,000 per-year rent on their clinic at the Siksika Medicine Lodge. According to the band council, the doctors balked at the proposed arrangement and moved their practice to a clinic in the nearby town of Gleichen.

Siksika's pharmacist also left the community in the dispute, forcing the band to hire a courier service to fill prescriptions for people living on the reserve.

Redgun said the band council is negotiating a contract with a new pharmacist and expects the service to be available on reserve by mid-June. He said the band has filed complaints against the former doctors and pharmacist with the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Alberta Pharmacist's Association.