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Executive Summary November 24 & 25, 2006 Council Meeting

The Council of the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Saskatchewan operates under an explicit set of governance policies. It strives to make its work as transparent as possible to the medical profession and the general public.

Those portions of the Council's deliberations that are not confidential are open to observation by any person subject to space availability in the College boardroom.

At the conclusion of each Council meeting an Executive Summary of the meeting is widely distributed to the District Medical Associations, related organizations and the public media. This Executive Summary provides a brief overview of issues discussed, decisions made, and/or actions taken by the Council. If any person wishes more detailed information about any of the issues which are not subject to confidentiality constraints, these can be obtained by contacting Ms. Virginia Marsh, the College's Regulatory Services Coordinator, at 211 - 4th Avenue South, Saskatoon S7K 1N1; Phone: (306) 244-7355; Fax: (306) 244-0090; e-mail: marshv@shin.sk.ca

The Council received a presentation from Dr. Gerrit Van Wyk and a number of Senior Medical Officers in respect to options for evaluating the competence of foreign trained specialists. The Council devoted 4 hours to its discussion of this presentation and set up a small working group to explore evaluation tools that could be used as an alternative to the Royal College examinations in special circumstances.

The Council received a presentation from Dr. Tom Smith-Windsor and Dr. Keith Ogle on the plans of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan to offer a third year of family medicine training designed to confer surgical skills that may be useful for family physicians in selected rural communities.

The Council also:

  1. Issued in writing its reasons for declining an application for registration from Dr. C.D. Huerto.

  2. Adopted a bylaw amendment that modifies the procedures the College of Physicians and Surgeons will follow in provision of credentialing advice to Regional Health Authorities for general practice anesthesia privileges and other practice privileges beyond Level 1.

  3. Approved an extensive range of practice protocols to be used by paramedics and emergency medical technicians.

  4. Received a policy proposal from the College of Pharmacists in respect to pharmacists' prescriptive authority and directed the Registrar to make arrangements for representatives of the College of Pharmacists to meet with the Council at its next meeting.

  5. Discussed the appropriateness of Councillors participating in Council meetings by telephone linkage and expressed a view that it would not favor such arrangements as they would not be conducive to adequate Councillor interaction.

  6. Adopted a revision of the bylaw pertaining to the Prescription Review Program to eliminate the "three-day rule" applicable to medications covered by the Prescription Review Program.

  7. Discussed the legislation that has been introduced by the Provincial Government to require facilities to report to local law enforcement agencies their treatment of all patients with gunshot and stab wounds. The Council directed the Registrar to ensure Council input into the development of regulations under this legislation.

  8. Made appointments to the College's standing committees.

  9. Reviewed the results to date from the CAPE evaluation of IMG family physicians and approved the continuing application of the CAPE evaluation procedure over the next two years.

  10. Determined that it will explore the implications of a future policy that would limit IMG family physicians to practice in settings with at least three other physicians until they are successful in the CAPE assessment.

  11. Accepted a report from the Registrar's office that Dr. A.W. Eldemire has agreed to retire from practice effective December 31, 2006 rather than face a hearing of evidence related to charges of unprofessional conduct laid against him by the Council.

  12. Received reports from two Competency Committees and appointed three members of Council to serve as a Competency Hearing Committee for both cases.

  13. Considered an appeal from a complainant in respect to the College's process for investigation of the complaint and determined that the process had fully complied with the values defined by the Council and therefore dismissed the appeal.

  14. Considered a request from the Government of Libya to deny registration to applicants who had their postgraduate training in Canada funded by the Libyan Government and had outstanding return of service obligations. The Council determined that it has no statutory authority to deny registration to such applicants if they are otherwise eligible for registration.

  15. Received reports from the Registrar's office in respect to work in progress and other issues of interest to the Council.

  16. Acknowledged and thanked Dr. Garry Hansen and Mr. Evert Van Olst for six years of service on the Council and Dr. Mukesh Mirchandani for nine years of service on the Council.

  17. Received a report that Dr. Grant Stoneham was elected by acclamation to fill the vacancy created by Dr. Hansen's retirement from the Council and that Dr. Michel Salib was elected by acclamation to fill the vacancy created by Dr. Mirchandani's retirement from the Council. The Council is anticipating an appointment will be made by the Cabinet in the near future to fill the position currently occupied by Mr. Evert Van Olst when his appointment expires in February 2007.

  18. The Council was also informed that an election has been organized to fill a Council position from Regina, with Dr. Borden Bachynski and Dr. Sylvester Ukabam being the nominees for this position.

  19. At a dinner on November 24th the Council acknowledged and honored physicians who have achieved Senior Life Membership with the College by virtue of forty years of continual registration with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Drs. Mohamed Al-Katib, Brian Fern, John Kim, James McGettigan, Brian McSheffrey, Errol Senensky and James Wood were present to receive their Senior Life Membership. Dr. Nestor Ficzycz and Dr. Santosh Verma were not able to attend the dinner.

The Council is next scheduled to meet on February 2 & 3, 2007.