Northern Ontario's doctor shortage is drawing the attention of Ontario's Auditor General. In her annual report, Bonnie Lysyk says while the province has increased the number of physicians, only 5-percent are practicing in rural areas where 14-percent of Ontario's population live. Lysyk notes that locum doctors, meant to cover short-term vacancies in eligible communities, are instead being used for long periods of time. At the time of the audit, there were about 200 specialist vacancies in Northern Ontario, and a third of the hospitals had been using temporary physician services continuously since 2007.
