Adrian Dix’s Claim of Hiring 708 New Family Docs over the Last Year is Dubious

Dix’s Family Physician Count is Inconsistent with CPSBC

Adrian Dix is British Columbia Minister of Health under the BC NDP provincial government. On Feb 9^th, 2024, state propagandist CTV News Vancouver reported that there were 4289 family physicians working in BC as of December 2022, and 4997 as of December 2023, an increase of 708 or 16%.¹  Their single source is BC Minister of Health Adrian Dix.

I think this is a bogus claim.  The College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC) annual reports and CPSBC registrant search portal reveal something quite different.

Let’s fact-check CTV News Vancouver:

• Fact #1: According to the CPSBC annual report for the year ending on Feb 28^th, 2023, there were 7393 active family practitioners.

• Fact #2: According to the CPSBC registrant website, there are 7709 practising family physicians as of Feb 22^nd 2024.

7709 – 7393 = +316 family doctors, that’s less than half of the +708 family physicians increase purported by Adrian Dix on Feb 9^th, 2024.  Dix’s +708 family physicians increase is from December 2022 to December 2023.  My +316 family physicians calculated increase is from February 28^th, 2023, to February 21^st, 2024.  It’s pretty much the same time window.

Propagandist CTV News Vancouver, further reported on Feb 16^th, 2024: “During his announcement last week, Dix attributed the increase in physicians practising family medicine to the province's new payment model, which took effect last year.

"I think that is a success that is not only significant in terms of doctors choosing the new model … but doctors choosing to practice family medicine in the community," he said.”²

On December 20^th, 2023, CTV News Vancouver reported that Dr. Lorne Verhulst was retiring and that he couldn’t find a replacement to take over his 3500 clients.³  Dr. Verhulst practised at the Shelbourne Medical Clinic, in Victoria, BC.  That’s an urban area, not rural. 

If Dix’s new payment plan was really attracting new family physicians, Dr. Verhulst retirement would not have made the news.

BC Family Physicians Shortage is a False Narrative

Also note that Dix claimed that there were 4289 family physicians as of December 2022 and the CPSBC annual report for the year ending on February 28^th, 2023, two months later, states 7393 family physicians.  The CPSBC number implies that there are 72% more practising family doctors than what Dix is claiming.

Either the CPSBC is inflating their number or Dix is lying.  I checked the registration revenues of the CPSBC from their financial statements and find them consistent with their reported number of active registrants. 

On July 22^nd, 2022, the CBC quoted the BC Ministry of Health: “The number of family physicians has increased by nearly nine per cent since 2016-17 to 6,760 FPs (family physicians) in the province in 2020-21. That's an average annual increase of 2.1 per cent."

The CPSBC annual report for the year ending on Feb 29^th 2020, states 6720 family practitioners.  The CPSBC annual report for the year ending on Feb 28^th 2021, states 6942 family practitioners.  So, just less than two years ago, the Ministry of Health (Adrian Dix) was quoting family physicians counts consistent with the CPSBC and now it’s not.

BC Minister of Health Adrian Dix is flat out lying. He has picked arbitrary low numbers to fit the narrative of a family physicians’ shortage and to produce a fake 16% increase to peddle the fake success of his new payment plan.

The shortage of doctors is a false narrative.  A shortage of doctors is relative to the demand for healthcare services.  What is misleading by omission in the issue of available doctors in BC is an objective and realistic discussion of the aggregate demand for healthcare services.  What kind of pathologies and in which order of magnitude have emerged since 2021? 

What could have possibly caused the demand for healthcare services to skyrocket in 2021 and onward?  We all know the answer: massive undiagnosed and unrecognized covid-19 vaccine injuries.  Any diagnostic that doesn’t recognize or even contemplate covid-19 vaccine injuries is malpractice.  That’s the real story. 

Healthcare in BC will start improving the day doctors are no longer censored and are allowed to practice according to their conscience without any interference from the CPSBC or the government.

Family Physicians are Leaving BC

On Feb 18^th, 2024, the CPSBC registrant website returned 7717 practicing family physicians:

On Feb 21^st, 2024, the CPSBC registrant website returned 7712 practicing family physicians:

And as mentioned above, on Feb 22^nd 2024, the CPSBC registrant website returned 7709 practicing family physicians.  Over 4 days, BC lost 8 active family physicians (7717 – 7709).

That’s 2 family physicians per day leaving BC.

Anecdotally, the CBC reported on September 29^th, 2020, that Alberta was losing rural doctors.⁴  The CBC then reported that Dr. Alanna Bowie had planned to settle in BC. 

Quote the CBC in September 2020: “But the contract dispute between the province and the Alberta Medical Association has left Bowie so frustrated, she said, that she is leaving for British Columbia at the end of April. She has arranged locums, or fill-in work, in B.C. until she decides where to settle permanently.”

“She (Dr. Bowie) said she and others will likely take a pay cut when they move to other provinces.  Instead, she said her decision to leave was cemented by the province's health-care direction and the fractured relationship between doctors and the government.”

Where’s Dr.  Alanna Bowie now? According to CPSBC registrant website:

Dr. Alanna Bowie registered as a family physician in BC, most likely came for fill-in work and locums as she mentioned and then resigned!  She was even willing to take a pay cut.  In 2020, her decision to leave Alberta was motivated by the province's health-care direction. 

It is obvious that she didn’t settle in BC for the same reason: British Columbia’s health-care direction under Dix and Henry.

Adrian Dix Has No Credibility.

In Feb 2024, Adrian Dix issued misleading press releases on the issue of family physicians in BC to prop up his new physician payment plan.  The new payment plan did not contribute to a 16% increase in family physicians in BC.  At best, according to CPSBC, family physicians increased by 4.2%.

I previously estimated that the covid-19 vaccination mandate non-compliance employee termination rate was around 10%, using two different datasets:

1.       Nurses’ Union membership from annual reports, and

2.       Employer contributions from the BC Municipal Pension Plan.

The first conclusion is that Adrian Dix is not credible. 

The second conclusion is that every media that repeats Dix’s disinformation is a state propagandist spreading misinformation.  Let’s name some of those state propagandists:

• Times Colonist: More doctors practising family medicine in B.C., seen as significant change

• TriCity News: New payment model sees 16.5% jump in B.C. family doctors, but more needed: minister

• CTV News Vancouver: B.C. has gained 708 family doctors over the last year. Here's where they're working

• CBC News: 700 more family physicians in B.C. since payment revamp: doctors

1. More than 80% of family physicians in B.C. have signed up for new payment model, health minister says

2. B.C. has gained 708 family doctors over the last year. Here's where they're working

3. B.C. clinic closures leave thousands without family doctor

4. Loss of rural doctors in Alberta leaves patients uncertain as contract dispute with province drags on