Dr. Amgad Zake of the Ashcroft Family Medical Practice has announced that he will be leaving the practice as of March 31, 2019. He informed Interior Health of his decision on Jan. 24, and on Jan. 25 a letter displayed in the practice at the Ashcroft Hospital explained the decision to his patients and recommended that they seek care with another physician at the practice.
Zake came to Ashcroft after completing the Practice Ready Assessment (PRA) program at Lillooet Hospital in March 2016. The PRA program, which was launched in 2015, is an assessment program for internationally educated family physicians who have completed residencies in Family Medicine outside of Canada. It provides qualified family physicians with an alternative pathway to licensure in B.C., and those who complete it must spend at least three years practicing in a rural community in the province.
In an interview with The Journal in May 2018, Zake insisted that he had no plans to leave the area. “I have my patients, I know the community, and my life is settled here,” he said at the time. “I have no plans to leave.” He did note, however, that the aftermath of the Elephant Hill wildfire in the summer of 2017 had left many of his patients stressed, and that he himself was feeling some stress as well.
Bev Grossler, the Interior Health Hospitals and Community Integration Services manager for Ashcroft, Clinton, Lillooet, and Lytton, said that IH will actively be recruiting for locum support for the Ashcroft practice, to start after March 31. She added that they also have a potential PRA candidate who, provided they pass the tests, would be able to start at the Ashcroft practice in September or October this year.
In his letter, Zake said that he wanted his departure to be as easy on his patients as possible, and noted that patient records would stay at the Ashcroft practice unless patients indicated they wanted them to go elsewhere.
“It has been my great pleasure to have provided you with health services in the past, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people throughout my years in practice,” he wrote. “I send you best wishes for a healthy future.”
Patients of Dr. Zake who want to move to another physician can contact the Ashcroft Family Medical Practice at (250) 453-9353.
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