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Issue 8
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
www.estevanmercury.ca
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
Local anaesthesiologist gets privileges revoked By Jaime Polmateer jpolmateer@estevanmercury.ca
Local anaesthesiologist Dr. Mehdi Horri recently had his certificate of registration with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan revoked, following an act of misconduct that happened when he was practising in Ontario. In the meantime Estevan will be limited to one anaesthesiologist, Dr. Anthony Davies, but a replacement for Horri is already being sought for recruitment. “ We i m m e d i a t e l y started to put the pieces together to make sure we could provide coverage for anaesthesiology; we talked immediately with Dr. Davies and the recruiting process, that was started
immediately,” said Greg Hoffort, executive director of St. Joseph’s Hospital. “We’ve talked to other physicians and they’re picking up the slack that’ll be created by this, that was our reaction and that’s what we did immediately upon learning and credit goes to the medical staff for stepping forward in this regard.” Hoffort added that Horri’s revocation of privileges was 100 per cent up to the college with St. Joseph’s Hospital having no part in the decision. According to documents from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, Horri was found to have committed an act of professional misconduct relevant to the practice of medicine by having engaged in a sexual relationship with a patient too soon
Dr. Mehdi Horri after the termination of the doctor-patient relationship. Bryan Salte, legal counsel for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan, said legislation allows them to take disciplinary action if a physician has been disciplined
in another province. There was a hearing and the college’s council determined what it thought was the appropriate penalty based on the facts as it has them, which happened June 16. “Revocation means
he doesn’t have a licence. He’s not eligible to reapply for nine months, and that doesn’t mean he’ll get his licence back after nine months. His licence is revoked, which means he doesn’t have a licence and won’t have a licence unless the council concludes that it’s appropriate to give him a licence back,” Salte said. “In order to that he’d have to (provide) evidence that he’s been assessed . . . and had met other conditions that would be appropriate to say that, although his licence was taken away based upon the conduct that occurred in Ontario, at that future time that it’s appropriate to return a licence to him.” A change.org petition to get Horri reinstated was started by Lori Dumontel last week and as of press
time had already garnered roughly 250 signatures. The description on the petition says, “Dr. Horri is a valuable asset to the Estevan community. His skills are crucial to our hospital. His role as a anaesthesiologist in our hospital’s surgery department has alleviated many patients needing to seek surgeries in Regina, SK.” Whether or not the petition will help get Horri’s privileges is up to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan, Hoffort said. Horri is also on the website ratemds.com where patients can go to assess medical professionals and all the reviews for the Estevan anaesthesiologist are remarkably positive, often giving him five out of five stars.
One person killed in collision near Bienfait By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
One person is dead following a collision outside of Bienfait on the weekend. Members of the Estevan RCMP and other emergency services crews were called to a two-vehicle collision at the junction of Highway 18 and 39 west of Bienfait at 10:10 p.m. on Saturday night. A westbound sports utility vehicle collided with a southbound car at the intersection. The car was a taxi. The SUV was travelling on Highway 18, but rather than taking the turnoff that would allow it to later merge with traffic on Highway 39 and head for Estevan, the SUV continued towards the intersection and went through a stop sign. “It continued through the intersection and hit the southbound car,” said Sgt. Jeff Clarke with the Estevan RCMP. “The southbound car was on Highway 39.” The male driver of the cab, 35-year-old Bisho Varghese of Estevan, was pronounced dead at the scene. A 28-year-old male
passenger in the car was also injured and transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The 59-year-old female driver of the SUV, Debra Hamann of Bienfait, was also taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
She has been charged with one count of impaired driving causing death, one count of driving while over .08 causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing death. All three charges are under the Criminal Code. Hamann appeared be-
fore a justice of the peace on Sunday, and was released with conditions. Her next court appearance will be Aug. 14 in Estevan. A GoFundMe page was set up for Varghese. The money will be directed to help his body be returned
to his family in India for the final rites. Funds will also cover funeral costs and unexpected expenses that come with a sudden loss. Any excess money will be donated to his family back home. He is survived by his wife Joby, mother and sister.
As of Tuesday morning, the campaign had raised $45,525, which was well above the $30,000 goal. More than 700 people contributed. It took just one day to raise the money. The campaign is now closed.
United Way Estevan ramps up for telethon The goal has been set for this year’s United Way Estevan telethon. For the 2017 edition of the event organizers would like to raise $325,000 to give to its member agencies, the same goal it set and smashed last year. “We definitely knew going in times are a little tougher, but at the same time we were very fortunate last year and we believe Estevan can continue to step up and support the United Way and all our member agencies,” said Patrick Fisher, president of United Way Estevan. “Last year was our 40th year and we definitely got a lot of extra donations we weren’t expecting, but we had a goal of $325,000
and we ended up with over $400,000. “We kind of looked at that a little bit and thought we should keep it the same and we’re hoping for, maybe not similar results, but we definitely think we can reach our goal.” The theme for this year is going to be United Through Adversity and though Fisher said he expects a lot of people will assume it’s inspired solely by the state of the economy, the theme actually goes much deeper than that. Adversity can be felt from the people served by United Way member agencies, many of which are charitable organizations, as well as the agencies them-
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selves as they struggle to meet the needs of their clientele. “What we realized is that no matter what the adversity is, regardless of whether it’s a financial situation or it’s the economy, whether it’s problems in a household, whether it’s needing someone to talk to, everybody encounters adversity on a day-to-day basis and what we at the United Way want is to unite people,” Fisher said. Uniting people is another part of what the telethon is all about, Fisher added, as it gives community members a chance to get together and showcase a lot of the talent and skills within Estevan. Telethon⇢A2
United Way Estevan president Patrick Fisher revealed the theme of this year’s telethon will be United Through Adversity and a goal has been set to raise $325,000 for its member agencies.
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