Sask.'s shortage of pharmacists resulting in reduced hours at drug stores
It’s becoming more difficult to find a pharmacy that is open late in Regina and a shortage of pharmacists and expanded duties has resulted in some drug stores cutting hours even more.
At one Regina Shoppers Drug Mart the sign that reads open late has been taken out of the window, the store says there are not enough pharmacists to maintain expanded hours.
“There’s just not enough people around to run the full complement of hours so a lot of them shut down earlier hours and it’s just basically reduced hours right across the board and through all the various companies as far as that’s concerned,” pharmacy owner George Furneaux said.
Additional staff are also needed as an overburdened health care system relies on pharmacies to do more.
“There’s lots of different opportunities for pharmacists to be able to now be able to help people out so that they don’t have to rely so much on their local physician or emergencies or the medical clinics after hours,” Furneaux said.
The Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan believes every major pharmacy group in the province is recruiting. They don’t have precise numbers but say it’s especially difficult to hire in rural areas.
“We certainly work with pharmacists to promote and we work with the province hoping for incentives to bring peoples to rural Saskatchewan to start there and nationally we speak with our national counterpart about how we attract international students to come here as well,” Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan CEO Michael Fougere said.
Kiran Sarkaria is a recent pharmacy grad from the University of Saskatchewan. She posted her resume on Indeed and reached out to Shoppers in Regina where she now works.
“And immediately I was getting a lot of different calls as soon as my resume went up,” Sarkaria said. “A lot of people were reaching out to me in emails or phone calls, lots of people wanted me to just come in and just chat, show me their pharmacy,” she added.
The shortage is drawing interest from foreign trained pharmacists who wish to relocate to Canada but the process isn’t easy. It can take two to three years of additional training to meet Canadian licensing requirements.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Blaine Higgs 'furious' over sexual education presentation
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has shared his anger on social media over a presentation in at least four high schools.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Grayson Murray's parents say the two-time PGA Tour winner died of suicide
Grayson Murray's parents said Sunday their 30-year-old son took his own life, just one day after he withdrew from a PGA Tour event.
2 died in plane crash near Squamish, B.C., police confirm
Two people died after a plane went down in a remote area near Squamish, B.C. on Friday, authorities have confirmed.
Driver, 18, gets $3,000 ticket, 32 demerit points after speeding on Laval boulevard
A young driver received a hefty fine from Laval police after they say he was driving nearly 100 km/h over the posted speed limit.
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Indianapolis 500 delayed as strong storm forces fans to evacuate Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The start of the Indianapolis 500 was delayed as a strong storm pushed through the area Sunday, forcing Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials to evacuate about 125,000 fans who had already arrived for "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
Some birds may use 'mental time travel,' study finds
Real quick — what did you have for lunch yesterday? Were you with anyone? Where were you? Can you picture the scene? The ability to remember things that happened to you in the past, especially to go back and recall little incidental details, is a hallmark of what psychologists call episodic memory — and new research indicates that it’s an ability humans may share with birds called Eurasian jays.
Hamas rocket attack from Gaza sets off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv for the first time in months
Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza that set off air raid sirens as far away as Tel Aviv for the first time in months on Sunday in a show of resilience more than seven months into Israel's massive air, sea and ground offensive.