Over the last year, residents of Lethbridge and area have received letters that they no longer have a family physician because theirs has moved or retired. In most cases, patients are told there is no one to replace the doctor.

More than 30,000 residents are now without a family doctor and there are no walk- in clinics or non-emergency clinics to attend. As a result, thousands of people have no choice but to attend the Emergency Department for non-emergency medical care.

This is absolutely not a plan and the UCP government must immediately make a plan to assist the thousands of people without doctors here, recruit more family physicians, and protect the Emergency Department from collapsing under demand from non-emergency patients who have no other options.

We, the undersigned residents of Lethbridge and area, call upon the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to immediately increase the number of family doctors available to our area. We further call upon the Assembly to request timely updates from the government about the progress of the recruitments and the interim plan to assist Lethbridge and area residents to access primary health care.