A physician has been secured for the Town of Craik. The doctor will begin to provide a four-day-a-week family practice out of the Craik Health Centre starting Nov. 26, said a representative with Five Hills Health region.

Bert Linklater, senior executive director of operations for Five Hills, said the new physician, Dr. Eli Karam, would provide the same services that were offered by the town’s previous doctor, Narinda Maree, who moved to start a practice in Moose Jaw at the beginning of August. He said the new physician would provide “normal physician services” in Craik as part of a primary health care team.

“He will work in conjunction with a nurse practitioner and with a primary health care team out of that health centre so there will be visiting health professionals as well,” said Linklater. “Dr. Karam will provide support to the whole team; particularly the nurse practitioner and he will provide those services that you would normally expect to find in a physician’s office.”

Linklater said whether Karam will be sharing on-call or emergency services with Dr. Lang in Davidson depends on the “details” the two doctors work out on their own, but Karam will be providing emergency services in Craik during his business hours.

“He won’t be required to do on-call,” he said. “When he is on-call after hours that will be in cooperation with Dr. Lang, so they have an understanding of how one will cover for another, but under normal circumstances the emergency services will be just that he’ll respond to them when he’s there during his office hours.”

The days when Karam will be working at his office in Craik are “still up for discussion” as it is not yet known whether he will be working four fixed days a week or if he may want more flexibility in his schedule, said Linklater. He added Karam has given no indication that he will be moving to Craik in the foreseeable future, but will instead commute from his home at Saskatoon in the meantime.

To read more please see the Nov. 5 print edition of The Davidson Leader.