Dear Colleague,

 

I hope to represent you as your Doctors of BC Family Physician Board Director. There are many longstanding challenges facing the healthcare system, which the pandemic has exacerbated and added to.  I’d like to continue the Board’s good work on issues including physician wellness, fair and equitable remuneration, business and technology supports, and physician autonomy of agency. I am convinced that governance and policy setting are of key importance in tackling these challenges and ensuring physician leadership voices are represented at every decision-making table impacting the healthcare system. 

 

As a visible minority, I bring diversity of perspective gained through lived experience as an immigrant and a physician. The importance of including diverse voices in healthcare was strongly illustrated in my experience as a steering committee member of the South Asian Covid Task Force. Born out of the recognition of an information gap and an appreciation of the intersectionality of risk factors affecting the South Asian community, this grassroots group was very successful in dispelling misinformation and vaccine hesitancy through efforts such as our “This Is Our Shot” campaign, which was later upscaled to benefit the broader community.

 

My 25-year career working in multiple settings (including community practice, long-term care, obstetrics and caring for patients in hospital), alongside FP’s, hospitalists, and specialists, has given me broad exposure and built appreciation for the systemic issues affecting physicians in all patient care settings. As a physician lead in numerous initiatives, I’ve enjoyed great success in collaborative leadership and have been honored to earn the respect and trust of the multiple stakeholders I’ve brought together from across diverse arenas, including local politicians, city staff, school boards, community service agencies and community members representing diverse segments of society, to work with health authority staff and the Burnaby Division of Family Practice. The results include BC’s first drive-through COVID testing and assessment site, our physician led and operated Edmonds UPCC, improved team-based healthcare delivery through our Burnaby PCN, especially to vulnerable populations and those in urgent need of mental health care, and initiatives to improve the social determinants of health.  

 

I commit to engaging and learning from our diverse members, and projecting all members’ voices, while leaning on the personal and professional experiences that’ve helped me appreciate the challenges facing us and hone the collaborative leadership skills required to further the Board’s advocacy and policy setting work. I believe that the best outcomes for the healthcare system, physicians, patients, and society will come from open dialogue and true collaboration across stakeholders within our profession, allied healthcare, politicians from multiple ministries and levels of government, administrators, and community members, to effect solutions, while maintaining physician autonomy.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Respectfully,

 

Dr. Baldev S. Sanghera