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More than 5,000 people in Regina were in need of new primary medical care as of Monday, after Gardens Medical Clinic closed.
Tammy Helland lost her family doctor.
“This isn’t just an inconvenience for me, it’s catastrophic,” she said in the rotunda at the legislative building, invited there by the Sask. NDP.
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In October, the clinic said it was closing because it was unable to attract and keep doctors.
Helland said her heart sank when she was told it was closing. She said she has severe celiac disease, ADHD, and needs medication which is a controlled substance so she can’t get it through a walk-in clinic.
“I’m now on the phone trying to talk to any sort of doctor who will take me on. And I’ve called over 30 clinics and I either got scoffed at, laughed at, and honestly, it was so disheartening,” she explained.
At this point, Helland said she’s just trying to take care of herself the best she can and hope she can find another doctor to take her on.
Sask. NDP health critic Meara Conway said the closing of the clinic is a huge blow for its former patients.
She pointed to an Angus Reid poll released last week which said 26 per cent of respondents in Saskatchewan didn’t have a family doctor — spread across the province’s entire population, that would work out to more than 300,000 people.
“We’re moving in the wrong direction and it’s really a shame to see another nail in that coffin, particularly given that this was a real opportunity for Sask. Party to intervene,” said Conway.
Sask. NDP health critic Meara Conway said on Dec. 1, 2025 she was gobsmacked the health minister didn’t do anything to keep the Gardens Medical Clinic open. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
The NDP brought this plight of the clinic to the government’s attention in October, but the Health Minister said at that time what he repeated on Monday — that the clinic was run independently from the health authority and could therefore choose its own future.
Minister Jeremy Cockrill didn’t answer questions from reporters Monday, but did speak to it during question period. He said the provincial government is doing other things to improve the availability of primary care in Saskatchewan, including expanding the use and scope of nurse practitioners.
“I am gobsmacked that the health minister is content to just sit on his hands and watch this happen,” said Conway on Monday.
She said the minister could have stepped in with an emergency transition plan for the clinic to help its patients until something more substantial could be worked out.
Conway also said the provincial government could change the compensation model, saying it could find an alternative to fee-for-service where it isn’t working.
In February last year, the provincial government reached a new four-year deal with the Sask. Medical Association for physician pay.
According to Conway, the lack of action from the provincial government was especially egregious because the team-based approach of the clinic was highly touted by the government when it opened in 2018, and it received provincial funding.
The clinic got $4.3 million in the 2018-19 provincial budget, and was to get $3 million in annual funding to support it and the expansion of the Seniors House Call Team, which was to provide at-home care to the clinic’s clients and others in Regina with mobility problems and complex needs.
The Seniors House Call Team was re-named the Intermediate Care Services Team during the pandemic, and its operations were relocated. The health authority said the team’s operations will continue.
