ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - More than 1,000 women in Newfoundland and Labrador face the prospect this fall of seeking cancer treatment elsewhere in Canada after three cancer specialists announced their resignations.
The three physicians -- the province's only gynecological oncologists -- have announced they will quit en masse in October.
The head of the province's medical association says their departures stemmed from a lack of basic needs, such as clinic space and support staff.
Dr. Elizabeth Callahan, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association, says the government has ignored their pleas for help for months.
Callahan says the doctors submitted a report outlining their concerns in March, but that provincial Health Minister Ross Wiseman hasn't acted on them.
The resignations are the latest blow for Newfoundland and Labrador's health-care system, which has been under scrutiny for months at an ongoing inquiry into hundreds of botched breast cancer tests.
