Choosing the rural route [Letters]

Congratulations on the article "Medical recruitment in rural Canada: Marathon breaks the cycle" (Can Med Assoc J 1997;156:1593-6), by Michael OReilly. Dr. George Macey, Iris Sullivan and Dr. Gordon Hollway also deserve congratulations for their persistent work on behalf of Marathon's medical services. Recruitment of physicians to rural and isolated communities has been a long-term problem and has become an even greater struggle because of provincial policies that limit billing numbers, licensing policies that restrict international medical graduates, rigid training programs and the lack of re-entry opportunities to allow practising physicians to seek additional training. If provincial governments and provincial medical associations are really serious about addressing the issues of physician supply in remote and rural communities, they will quickly recognize the value of the system that the folks in Marathon and their enthusiastic physicians have put together. Supportive colleagues, a reasonable income, appropriate time for holiday and study, and a call schedule of something less than 1 in 4 provide a good foundation for developing medical services for rural and isolated communities.