P.E.I. losing child and adolescent psychiatrist

P.E.I. will soon be losing one of its child and adolescent psychiatrists.

Dr. Anita Taj was hired last year for a one-year locum position at the Richmond Centre in Charlottetown.

That year-long contract ends next month, and in a writen statementHealth PEI saidDr.Taj has decided not to continue on with the practice. Her last day of service willbe in mid-February.

Workingto recruit replacement

The province saidit is working to recruit a permanent full-time replacement.

In the meantime, the province plans to offer telepsychiatry, where doctors and patients communicate by video-conferencing.

The province saidit is in the "final stages"of hiring a Halifax doctor for that interim telepsychiatry position.

Child and adolescent telepsychiatry is already offered at the Queen Elizabeth HospitalbyDr. Kizilbash, Health PEI said.

P.E.I. has acomplement of 15 full-time psychiatrists.Health PEI said in an email to CBC that with Dr. Taj,14.25 positions had been filled. That will drop to13.25 when she leaves. A doctor with a part-time position is on maternity leave until later this fall.

Health PEI said it has recruited two full-time permanent psychiatrists to begin practising on P.E.I. this summer, one in July and one in August. Several locums are also working throughout the year, officials said.

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