Along with the much-reported doctors shortage, Whitehorse is facing an urgent need for long-term care and palliative care beds, says the president of the Yukon Medical Association.

Dr. Rao Tadepalli said last week there are about 10 patients currently in the hospital awaiting long-term care placement, but in reality, Whitehorse General Hospital is about 35 beds short. There are acute needs where palliative care is concerned as well, he told the Star.

The current hospital, developed in the 1990s, has far fewer beds than the late 1950s-era building it replaced.

Tadepalli said palliative care beds have been promised for some time, and it's unfortunate they haven't materialized.

In 2006, there was already talk of opening a palliative care unit in the adjacent Thomson Centre, which opened 20 years ago.

"There's been discussions that we should have five beds marked as palliative care beds, especially now that there's a number of situations where a home is not the ideal place to die for patients due to their needs and their family situation,” he said.

"Especially, the Yukon could be quite isolating without family and friends, and so it is a great necessity. All I can say is it is an area of severe need.

"The hospital is clogged with patients looking for long-term care, so acute beds are being held up with long-term care patients and palliative care beds are a great necessity but there are no beds available and no funding announced.”

Doug Graham, the Minister of Health and Social Services, said Wednesday there will be 10 new long-term care beds opening at the Thomson Centre in two weeks, which will free up beds in the hospital.

Yukon Hospital Corp. staff currently in the Thomson Centre will also be moved in the next while to free up more room in the centre for more long-term care beds and possibly a palliative care unit.

In the long term, Graham told the Star, the department is investigating a number of options.

But one thing seems certain: the cost to long-term care patients will rise.

"I've made no secret of the fact that we're going to increase the cost of long-term care to residents and so we're looking at the possibility also of attracting a private operator to the territory,” Graham said.

"We haven't had any bites for long-term care yet, but as the government increases the rate we hope that at least it will become feasible.”

Currently, residents pay between $18.60 and $21 a day for long-term care in those facilities.

"It costs us somewhere between, I think, $300 and $420 to maintain those beds per day so it's a pretty reasonable price, and we're looking at increasing it fairly substantially in the next few months,” said Graham.

The NDP was not available to comment on the possible hike to long-term care fees before press time this afternoon.

As for the continuing doctor shortage, Tadepalli said, the territory is going through a transitional phase, as the special licence program for International Medical Graduates ended and a few practices have closed in the city.

But, he estimated Whitehorse is within one or two practices of "reaching stability.”

"We have a number of students who have been sponsored in medical schools and medical programs,” Graham said.

"There are a number of incentives that are around like the new doctors retention program, recruitment programs, funds that help (medical students) through their education, there are a number of incentives available to doctors to set up their practice....

"I'm optimistic it will get sorted out.”

In addition to the steps being taken by YTG to draw doctors to the Yukon's communities, the federal government announced last Friday it will forgive a portion of Canada Student Loans for doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners working in rural communities across the country.

Doctors and residents working in family medicine will be eligible to receive $8,000 a year in loan forgiveness for a total of $40,000 over five years, for those who began working in designated communities on or after April 1, 2012.

Nurses and nurse practitioners will be eligible to receive up to $4,000 a year, up to $20,000 over five years, in loan forgiveness.

Yukon MP Ryan Leef was not available for comment this week. He did say in a press release that "this initiative will encourage more health care professionals to work in the communities that need them most.”

Graham is not as optimistic that the new federal funding program would make a significant difference in recruiting new doctors to the territory.

"I don't see it making a huge difference in the number of physicians that will come to the territory. I see some benefit to us in that Canada will pay some of the funding that we've already offered to pay new doctors,” he said.

"What I see this doing is possibly reaching an audience that perhaps didn't know that the Yukon offered that benefit, so it may help us attract people that don't know about the Yukon program.”