Southlake Regional Health Centre has launched an independent investigation into allegations that it has discriminated against hiring female physicians in its Emergency Department (ED).
Earlier this week, a Globe and Mail investigation revealed that eight Ontario female physicians had hired a Toronto law firm to make a formal complaint on their behalf last March regarding alleged gender discrimination in the hiring and training of doctors by Southlake's chief of emergency, Dr. Marko Duic.
At the time, Southlake's ED, of which Dr. Duic has been chief since 2011, did not have a single female physician, according to the Globe article.
"At Southlake, we do not tolerate discrimination of any type and we take allegations of discrimination seriously. As soon as we became aware of anonymous allegations of gender discrimination in physician hiring practices in our ED, an internal investigation was conducted," said Southlake in a statement issued to NewmarketToday.
"Based on the information we received and the results of our review at that time, we could not find any evidence that discriminatory practices had taken place for physicians, residents or medical students," the statement said.
However, further anonymous allegations received last fall through the Globe investigation then prompted Southlake to retain an independent third party to carry out an investigation, the statement acknowledged.
According to Southlake, its ED is one of the busiest in the province, with more than 113,000 patient visits last year, yet wait times to see a physician in the ED is among the lowest in the province.
