Source: The Standard
Welland has attracted two new doctors through its physician recruitment incentive program.
In a council information package on Welland’s website, Lina DeChellis, the city’s economic development manager, said Dr. Rajinder Maan and Dr. Ekene Azuamah chose the city for their practices.
The two are the eighth and ninth doctors in the past 10 months to set up a practice in Welland under the city’s $1-million incentive program, for which $100,000 is allotted to physicians who move to the Rose City and either start or take over a practice.
Doctors in the incentive program must commit to staying in the city for at least five years.
The program began last year , when a report from DeChellis had said Welland had the lowest number of family physicians per population ratio in Niagara — 4.3 doctors per 10,000 people.
The city works closely with the Niagara Region’s physician recruitment specialist in attracting doctors.
Maan will be practising at Medcare Clinics, at 589 South Pelham Rd., unit 125, and Dr. Azuamah will be practising at Ace Family Practice & Walk in Clinic, 95 Lincoln St., unit 17.
DeChellis’s memo said the two are accepting new patients, and residents can call Mann at 905-788-3000, and register at form.jotform.com/242498215087261 for Azuamah.
The two join seven other doctors recruited under the program, including Dr. Sameh Zayed, who is from the U.K., and is at King Street Family and Wellness Medical Clinic at 244 King St.
Also drawn by the incentive were Dr. Hamzah Khan and Dr. Jakob Richardson, at Intrepid Health Group; Dr. Rahil Patel and Dr. Gianluca Calcagno, both at 5 Plymouth Rd.; and Dr. Wael M. Shublaq, who came from St. John’s, N.L., to join Rose City Medical Associates Physicians at 555 Prince Charles Dr. N.
There is $100,000 left in the city’s incentive program.