Thompson region officials aren’t waiting on Interior Health to bring new doctors to the area.

It starts with a recruitment drive for the Kamloops area as the Thompson Regional Hospital District aims to deal with the lack of physicians and specialists.

“We need to start looking specifically for our area and not just Interior Health. There’s more of a focus on what we need and not what Interior Health thinks we need, and these are things we need to start taking under our own reign.”

Although Interior Health advertises job postings for positions across the region, O’Reilly said the health authority “goes out with a wide net” to fill its regional physician needs.

“The doctors we have are doing a phenomenal job, there’s no question, but what we don’t have is the bodies and there needs to be attraction and… retention to ensure we’re able to retain doctors when they come in,” he said.

He said the board voted at its last meeting to pay up to $1,000 per doctor for visits to the region as part of its recruitment effort. That’s double its previous allotment as it partners with the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation to attract prospects.

With the already-established fund bolstered, O’Reilly didn’t say what else the hospital district might explore, but he said there are “lots of different options” to expand local hiring efforts even further.

He was speaking in reaction to a Royal Inland maternity clinic’s impending closure, where an understaffed team of doctors is refusing to take on new patients.

Those doctors have also re-focused on labour and delivery at the hospital, where Interior Health previously warned a doctor shortage meant there were “potential gaps” in scheduling at the maternity ward.

Since the public warning was issued, no patients have been sent out to other hospitals for deliveries that could otherwise be handled at Royal Inland.

The warning and possible closure of the Thompson Region Family Obstetrics clinic has, however, been met with criticism from BC Conservatives. Health critic MLA Anna Kindy called it an “unjustifiable gap” in care for expecting mothers.