UPDATE: MLA Dan Davies slams Ministry of Health as FSJ Hospital Emergency Department unavailable Thursday

UPDATE: To view an updated story with statements from Minister of Health Adrian Dix and Northern Health, click here.

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Exactly one month after the last service interruption, Northern Health says the Emergency Department at the Fort St. John Hospital is closed.

In a Facebook post, the health authority announced that the department would be unavailable from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on May 2nd due to “challenges with physician coverage.”

Last month’s service interruption at the emergency department happened for the same reason.

When asked for his opinion on the closure, Peace River North MLA Dan Davies called the situation “unbelievable.”

“The largest hospital, the regional hospital for the whole northeast — having the Emergency Department completely closed, it’s scary and it’s unacceptable,” Davies said.

“It just goes to show the state of healthcare under this NDP government over the last seven years. It is unbelievable that we’re even having this conversation.”

Davies went on to call for the resignation of Adrian Dix, B.C.’s Minister of Health. 

Davies has called for Dix’s resignation in the past, saying “the system is broken” in response to last month’s service interruption.

When asked about solutions for the staffing difficulties faced by hospitals in the region, Davies said there are several solutions the government has considered, including training more doctors, bringing in international healthcare workers, and creating incentives for doctors to come and stay in the north.

However, he says the government isn’t doing enough.

“There are things to be done, but right now, the NDP government is just doing the same thing over and over again, hoping for different results, and it’s not working.”

When asked what Davies would tell the Ministry of Health if given the opportunity, his message was loud and clear: “fix the problem.”

“Don’t just give us little soundbites that sound good, fix the problem,” he added.

Energeticcity contacted Northern Health, the Ministry of Health, BC Rural Health, and Doctors of BC for comment, but they did not respond in time for publication.