Citizen website aims to link Regina residents with family doctors taking patients

REGINA — After noticing more people growing desperate to find a family doctor in Regina, David Nnamdi says he decided to take the problem into his own hands.

The 23-year-old recently started a website to connect people with doctors accepting new patients in Saskatchewan’s capital and hopes medical clinics will sign on.

“You (shouldn’t) have to call 25 or 35 clinics before you find a doctor who’s accepting new patients or spend all of your break time or your free time scouring the internet for hours and hours,” Nnamdi said in a recent interview.

“It’s almost like a part-time job.”

Saskatchewan, like other provinces, has struggled with family doctor shortages and clinic closures, leaving many without a primary care provider. But unlike other provinces, there is no website in Saskatchewan that lists family care providers accepting new patients.

“There is a huge lack of transparency,” Nnamdi said. “There is no list, there is no method of actually gathering information that is easy to find out which doctors are accepting new patients.”

Nnamdi’s website is called DocMiyo, which he said translates to “the good doctor.” The site currently does not provide a list of available clinics, but Nnamdi is speaking with various offices about signing up.

Once operational, the website would provide a list of clinics accepting patients, their contact information and types of services provided. He’s not planning to make money from the site, calling it a community service.

Nnamdi, who was born in Nigeria, moved to Ukraine in the late 2010s for medical school. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, he fled to Poland before finally arriving in Regina. He is a Canadian citizen and has family in the city.

His site could fill a void that has existed for three years.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority’s website used to contain a registry of clinics taking on new patients but stopped it due to challenges verifying the accuracy of information.

“Currently, the most reliable way to determine if a particular physician is accepting new patients is to call their clinic directly and inquire,” it said.

Opposition NDP health critic Meara Conway said the Saskatchewan Party government should find a way to make the site work.

“There’s no reason why they can’t include a disclaimer that the list might not be totally complete,” Conway said.

In December, the closure of a clinic in Regina left 5,000 patients scrambling for a new doctor, Conway added.

“We were calling around to dozens and dozens of clinics and offices, trying to find (a doctor) for someone, even having to go out of Regina,” she said.

The Saskatchewan College of Family Physicians says it has been advocating for such a site. College president Dr. Darcie McGonigle said they are launching a petition this week to grab the government’s attention.

“People are quite frustrated, challenged and disgruntled with trying to find a family physician or primary care team,” McGonigle said. “(Our organization) — because family physicians is in our title — gets multiple calls daily from the public trying to see if there’s anything that we can provide them with.”

A registry could see more patients connected with doctors, while also reducing the number of calls they receive, she added.

“Having to say no (to accepting patients) is just kind of that extra burden on the profession that we’re really trying to alleviate,” McGonigle said.

In Alberta, the province runs a website that lists clinics accepting new patients. Ontario, British Columbia and Manitoba also offer a service where families can register to be connected with available providers.

Nnamdi said he’d welcome Saskatchewan’s government to take over his website, but said there is also a role for citizens to take the initiative.

“The government has more important priorities like focusing on recruiting doctors and recruiting (nurse practitioners),” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2026.

Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press