The Journal can confirm that Dr. Stephen Akinkunmi has left the Ashcroft Family Medical Practice.
Akinkunmi started work at the clinic on March 16, 2020 after going through the Practice Ready Assessment Program. One of the terms of the program is that physicians who successfully complete it and are placed in a community agree to a three-year “return of service” in that community before they can move elsewhere to practise. However, reports indicate that Akinkunmi permanently left the clinic on Friday, Sept. 4.
The physician had struggled to build up a patient base, hampered by the fact that he started at the clinic just as the COVID-19 pandemic caused the shutdown of many services. The Ashcroft Family Medical practice remained open, but switched from in-person to telephone and video consultations for most patients.
READ MORE: New physician at Ashcroft medical clinic now accepting patients
He had been working in Clinton as part of a community outreach program, travelling to the Village one day a week to see patients there. He was also providing coverage in Lillooet.
Akinkunmi spent 17 years as a physician in his home country of Nigeria before coming to Canada in 2015. He did his practice ready assessment training in 100 Mile House, and chose Ashcroft as a place to practice because of his interest in rural health care.
According to Interior Health, the two remaining doctors at the Ashcroft clinic will be taking over Akinkunmi’s patients.
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