Summerside family doctor leaving practice with no replacement lined up

Patients of a family doctor in Summerside will soon find themselves without a primary-care provider.

Dr. Jeya Kandeepan recently notified patients that she is leaving her practice at the Summerside Medical Centre to pursue other opportunities within Health P.E.I., the health authority said in a news release.

Her last day at the centre is July 4.

"We are grateful to Dr. Kandeepan for her dedicated service to the Summerside community," Health P.E.I. CEO Melanie Fraser was quoted as saying in the release. 

"While transitions like this are never easy, we remain committed to supporting her patients and continuing to strengthen access to primary care across the province."

At this time, there is no primary-care professional to take over Kandeepan's practice, the release said.

She has sent letters to her patients with information on self-referral programs to support their care. They have also been given instructions on how to add themselves to the P.E.I. patient registry, which will give them free access to virtual care through Maple.

More than 36,000 Islanders were on the patient registry as of May 31.

Health P.E.I. said more than 4,200 people have been affiliated with a primary-care provider so far in 2025, and it aims to match at least 10,000 patients with providers by the end of the year.

The authority has hired three new full-time nurse practitioners this year and 18 physicians, four of whom will practice family medicine.