A new Yukon Medical Council has been appointed, with only one member returning from the council which resigned en masse in March.

Community Services Minister Elaine Taylor noted in an interview early this afternoon that the government has agreed to provide more administrative support and resources to develop policies and standards for the council, in response to concerns raised by the previous council.

"Going forward, we recognize that there are added elements to the work of the council that need to be fulfilled, particularly as they relate to the Agreement on Internal Trade and other matters,” she told the Star.

It's not clear at this point whether more staff will be provided through Community Services or as independent staff of the council itself.

Discussions between the government and the newly-appointed council will direct how the government fulfills these commitments, Taylor said.

Currently, the government provides about $250,000 worth of support for the council through staff, honouraria, travel costs and legal services, the minister noted.

The medical council is responsible for licensing, regulating and handling complaints about the territory's approximately 210 full- and part-time physicians.

Dr. Bruce Beaton, the former chair of the council, was not asked to return to his post, although he was one of six physicians nominated by the Yukon Medical Association for appointment.

"All six names were very highly, well-respected individuals that were put forth by Yukon Medical Association (YMA), and (the) Yukon government is obligated under the act, the Medical Professions Act to take three of those names,” Taylor said.

With one returning member, the minister noted there is "some continuity on council and also some new perspectives to add to the council on a go-forward basis.”

Beaton told the Star this morning that had he been asked, and had the government taken action to address the previous council's concerns, he would have considered returning to chair the newly-formed council.

But since the resignations of all six members of the council, Beaton said he hasn't once been approached by the government to discuss their concerns.

He has had discussions with the YMA, which has been in talks with the government.

"I'm disappointed; obviously they aren't taking our concerns seriously, or that's my opinion,” Beaton said.

In response to questions querying the government's decision not to engage the previous council regarding its concerns, Taylor noted that the government has been working with the YMA.

"(The YMA is) the collective body on behalf of the medical community in the Yukon, and so we have been working with the medical community as such on many of these issues of concern,” she said.

Beaton, explaining the crux of the previous council's concerns, noted that "the Yukon Medical Council is given responsibilities under both the Yukon Medical Profession Act and relationships consequent of the (2009 Agreement on Internal Trade) to deliver certain services.

"We're held responsible for doing that but we have no resources dedicated to us to do that. We have no budget and we have no staff to perform functions as we deem appropriate,” he said.

For a year leading up to the mass resignations, the council pushed the government to address its concerns, Beaton said, even proposing to conduct a study to determine a reasonable budget for the council.

"The budget for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of P.E.I., which has to perform roughly equivalent to what the Yukon would have to perform at, is roughly half a million dollars,” he noted.

The newly-appointed chair of the Yukon Medical Council, Dr. Robert Zimmerman, preferred not to comment until he has met with the council. A meeting is scheduled for Friday.

Other members of the council include returning member Dr. Dan Carew, Dr. Adrienne Mayes, Dr. Douglas Perry from Edmonton, who will serve as the out-of-territory physician member, and two public members, former Whitehorse mayor Bev Buckway and Ruth Wilkinson.

"Those are quality physicians, I am confident that they will do a good job. Dan Carew served on the previous council, and he's well aware of the issues,” said Beaton.

"I would hope that they would communicate, and maybe through Dr. Carew is enough, with the previous council to understand our issues and address them to some degree or another.”

"The council plays a vital role in regulating physicians in the territory, and I would like to thank the outgoing members for their service and the new members for taking on this important work,” Taylor said.

"I am pleased that Yukon physicians have stepped forward to form a new Yukon Medical Council,” said YMA president Dr. Rao Tadepalli.

"We are glad that we can get qualified new physicians into the territory to address the doctor shortage.”

Nominations from the YMA were received by the government last Wednesday.