Ontario Medical Association president term comes to an end

For the past year, the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) has been led by a leading physician at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care, but that's about to change.

Dr. Rose Zacharias's term as president will end later this week.

She's leaving at a time when there are many stresses facing the healthcare system.

"We have a deep, moral conviction to care for our patients, so as doctors, we will show up every day," Zacharias said.

Zacharias said enhancing patient care has been her guiding focus during her year-long term and a challenging task in a province where the cracks in health care have only expanded following a three-year-long pandemic.

"Doctors will show up at work every day and work inside of those stressors to deliver the best care that they can, and we are seeing the toll leading to early retirement and a reluctance to go into comprehensive family practice," Zacharias said.

It's leaving just over two million Ontarians without a family doctor, something Zacharias said needs to change.

"We know we can expedite those licensing procedures by implementing practice-ready assessments. Of course, there are steps that doctors need to meet, but there have been historical barriers that have been in place for too long, so we need to do that faster," Zacharias said.

She said expanded residency programs and the creation of an Ontario digital database could help ease the burden on patients and doctors.

Zacharias will officially end her term as president on May 5, after which Dr. Andrew Park in London is expected to take over.