Doctor says Port Hardy, B.C., ER should re-open 24/7 as town has ‘lots of physicians’

VICTORIA — The medical director of a health centre in Port Hardy, B.C., is calling for the reopening of the community’s overnight emergency room that has been shut for 31 months, saying the community has plenty of doctors.

Dr. Alex Nataros of the North Island Community Health Centre says he cannot understand why the ER at Port Hardy Hospital is still closed at night when the town has “lots of physicians for a town of 4,000 people.”

He says there are at least eight doctors in the town, and all have told him they would be willing to work in the ER, which he said had three or four doctors before the closure.

Island Health says in an emailed statement that it is still trying to recruit for the ER and it remains committed to resuming 24-hour services.

But it says “physician coverage is not the only limiting factor,” pointing to the need for ER-certified nurses and laboratory staff too.

Nataros says he’s concerned the failure to recruit doctors for the ER is because Island Health is penalizing Port Hardy for comments he made in February 2023 that called for the resignation of Island Health’s chief medical health officer, Bill Williams.

Nataros says the community has an “ample supply” of doctors, and the current state of the ER is a threat to patients in the region at the northern tip of Vancouver Island.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2025.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press