City of Timmins says it wants to set the record straight: "It does support physician recruitment."

The City of Timmins is responding to the media coverage of what some medical professionals are calling a doctor shortage crisis in the city. City officials said it's been financially supporting physician recruitment for decades.

The medical office building located next to the Timmins and District Hospital continues to be financially supported by the City.

“It was important for us to set the record straight on what the city’s commitment to physician recruitment has been,” Dave Landers, the chief administrative officer for the City of Timmins, told CTV News.

“And it’s that the city has been spending $145,000 a year since the turn of the century on physician recruitment in Timmins."

Landers said the city will continue paying for the medical specialists building until 2028.

But a member of the physician task force said the need at this particular time is for primary care physicians due to the fact that ten physicians have left over the past few years and more are expected to retire.

“We’re just asking for a commitment to realize that the lack of primary care in Timmins is a huge problem and should be on the election platform," said Doctor Lesley Griffiths, a Timmins-area family physician and member of the physician recruitment task force.

Landers said city officials met with members of the task force in late 2021 and asked it to develop a recruitment strategy and to date he said no clear strategy has been received.

“What a future council would be looking at would be; you know first of all, identifying the accurate number of people who are rostered or rostered in Timmins with family physicians," said Landers.

Landers added, the city will continue to work with the Timmins and District Hospital in supporting the expansion of the hospital's physician recruitment program.