Sask. families happy province has hired new pediatric gastroenterologist after almost 1.5 years without

Sarah Turnbull says the wait for her five-year-old daughter to see a pediatric gastroenterologistin her home province was going to be six years, then seemed like it might beendless after Saskatchewan's only doctor in that specialty left last year.Nowthere is some relief, as the province has recruited one of the specialists.

There were two pediatric gastroenterologists in the province when Turnbull'sdaughter Blakewas first added to the waitlist. Then one moved on.

Turnbullrelied on parent groups and the internet to treat her daughter as they waited to meet Dr. Simone Nicol, the remaining one, but on May 12, 2023,Nicol closed her practice in Saskatchewan.

The province has been without a pediatric gastroenterologist since then. Turnbull, asingle mother of two,had to travel to Edmonton to seek care for Blake,who underwent a bowel and bladder surgery for almost eight hours last April.

"Then we had to go back almost four to five times for the recovery, sometimes very emergently. One time last year we got back from Edmonton and within six hours we had to turn around and go back," she said.

"It was very discouraging to know that there was no point going to the ER in Regina or Saskatoon. It was super scary for so many parents out here with children with these chronic conditions and being told that those services just aren't offered."

New pediatric gastroenterologistbrings hope

On Tuesday morning at a news conference in Saskatoon, the provincial Ministry of Health announced that Dr. Rabin Persad, an experienced pediatric gastroenterologist with an established practice in Edmonton, will begin practising at the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital (JPCH)in Saskatoon on Oct. 1.

"Families in our province will now have access to specialized pediatric gastroenterology services much closer to home, and we know that many families have had to travel significant distances for these specialized services," Health Minister Everett Hindley said.

"His involvement will also support the ongoing developments of a comprehensive children's gastroenterology program for Saskatchewan and improve access to specialist care here in our province."

Hindley said the government has spentnearly $3 millionover the past two budgetsto build a comprehensive multidisciplinary pediatric gastroenterology program for the province.

He said this recruitment is a "significant moment" and that the province will aggressively keep recruiting "an appropriate number" to further facilitate the program.

"This work must continue," Hindley said. "We continue to actively recruit additional specialist health-care providers in pediatric gastroenterology and other fields."

Persad said he is privileged to join the growing team at JPCH.

"Yes, there's been some troubled times," Persad said."Hopefully as we move forward we'd see the end of those troubled times."

Persad said he hopes to continue the great work gastroenterologists before him did in the province. He said while working in Edmonton, he did provide services to families traveling from Saskatchewan.

"The ties that we have with the other provinces, we need to continue and to collaborate and to build those ties so that we can continue to provide excellent care for the children and families."

A sigh of relief

Turnbull said Blake got care at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, where Persad has practised since 2006and is the clinical lead of the Home Total Parenteral Nutrition program.

She said the ministry and the Saskatchewan Healthy Authority should make sure toretainPersadso that the history doesn't repeat itself.

"Give him whatever he wants. Give him the staff, give him the space. Just keep him here and get him to bring his friends," she said.

Turnbull said she once told the legislature that she would "love to see a gastroenterologist before Blake starts kindergarten," which will be in September. She now hopes she can see Persad in October.

Danica Ruf, from Good Spirit Lake near Yorkton, saidthe announcement means a lot.Herfamily has to travel 3.5 hours each way to Saskatoon every two weeks for their two sons to receive gastrointestinal(GI) care.

"Having a GI doctor here and locally is amazing. It reduces wait times, provides access for scoping in the province significantly more than what there has been in the past, and just overall it just provides great care for the children of our province," Ruf said.

Ruf said she watched asthe province went from two of the specialists to none, with nurse practitioners filling the gap.

"I think a lot of the challengewas just not knowing what the care was going to look like," she said.

"It's amazing to have someone who's consistent, who we can contact and have that expertise available immediately."