There's been some worry that there may not be enough doctors to go around after news spread that a long-time family physician would be taking a leave of absence. Dr. Katie Fong will leave her family practice at the Weyburn Health Centre for an undetermined amount of time beginning in August.

John Knoch, executive transition lead of corporate services for the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said residents shouldn't experience any doctor shortages due to the leave, stating Weyburn has the required amount of doctors for a city this size, which is between 10 and 14.

"Typically, depending upon the practice and the activity that the physicians will accept in their practices, so some physicians do not have a full patient load and some have a fairly aggressive and fairly large patient load and they're comfortable with that," said Knoch.

Two physicians, Dr. Reza Erfani and Dr. Nana Yaw Amo Broni, will be taking on Dr. Fong's patients at the Weyburn Health Centre. Currently, no other physicians are taking on new patients at the clinic.

Knoch thanked Dr. Fong for her nearly 30 years of service to the community so far.