Doctor Urbanus Bester, who has served the Nicola Valley for the past 20 years, is closing his practice.

By the end of March this year, roughly 2,000 people will be left without a family physician and have to find another on their own, but Bester said the other physicians in town will try to help out by taking on some of his patients.

“We’re going to really work hard to try and accommodate them in town and do the best we can to find another physician for them,” Bester told the Herald.

“We’ll do what we can to accommodate,” confirmed Dr. Duncan Ross, chief of medical staff for the Nicola Valley Hospital.

He said the Practice Ready Assessment Program — a government initiative recruiting international doctors for Logan Lake and Ashcroft — should open up some spots for new patients in town.

Bester’s decision to leave his practice comes down to lifestyle.

“These practices are busy … and it’s just time to make a change for me — it’s nothing specific,” he said.

With no one to pass his practice on to, it has to close.

This past spring, local doctor Steve Lali was expected to come home to Merritt and buy in to Bester’s practice.

However, when Lali’s wife experienced delays in navigating the immigration system, he took a job in the U.S. instead.

The reality for small town doctors is that they have a large workload, Bester said.

“I have had a good relationship with my patients over the 20 years, and that’s important, and I did enjoy working in Merritt,” Bester said, adding that he’ll likely continue to reside in the Nicola Valley.

Merritt now has six doctors — Donald McLeod, Duncan Ross, Paul Simon, Andries Smit, Drew Soderberg and Errol Van Der Merwe.

Back in December of 2013, the Interior Health Authority (IHA) said its goal was to recruit three more doctors to serve Merritt.

In that time they’ve recruited one, Dr. Soderberg, less than two years ago.

Ross said the IHA still intends to recruit three more doctors in Merritt, but rather than searching for two more, they’re now back to looking for three.

He said it hasn’t been easy to recruit new, young doctors to set up practices in Merritt.

“But we’re working on it,” Ross added.