The College of Family Physicians of Ontario stated that more than half a million people living in Toronto do not have a family doctor.

The college expects this number to double by 2026 to reach one million people without a family doctor.

Dr. Macalay Komanan, the president of the college, said that family medicine is currently under great pressure; the system is facing a number of problems, but the crisis can be resolved, enabling family doctors to return to what they strongly want and be available to help their patients.

The statement said it is currently expected that many family doctors will retire in the coming years and there are not enough doctors choosing family medicine to keep up with the population growth.

It also pointed out that some family doctors are forced to leave the profession because they have a large amount of administrative work and are unable to provide direct care through a multidisciplinary team.

About 2.3 million people in Ontario do not have a family doctor across the province, and expectations prevail that this number will double by 2026, with this figure expected to reach 4.4 million people.

The spokesperson for the regional Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones, mentioned a statement issued earlier in February that referred to the largest expansion of multidisciplinary primary care teams since their establishment in Ontario.

She added that there is an investment estimated at about 110 million dollars, which means three times the original allocated amount in the 2023-2024 budgets to establish and expand about 78 primary medical care teams over the years.