4,200 Nova Scotians removed from family doctor wait-list

Nova Scotia Health says 4,200 people were removed from the family doctor registry following a recent review.

The review found almost all of those people had invalid health cards, spokesperson Brendan Elliott said in an email to CBC News.

Those people would have received an email informing them of the change. Elliott said there are a number of reasons a health card could be considered invalid, but did not provide any examples.

But he said as long as people can sort out the issues with their health cards, they won't lose their spot on the list.

The number of Nova Scotians on the doctor wait-list was 148,431, as of June 1, according to a provincial dashboard. This represents 15 per cent of the population.

Elliott said anyone with an expired health card should contact MSI to have it renewed, and then call 811 to have their profile on the registry updated.

But some — about one to two per cent, according to Elliott — of the people who received an email did have valid health cards.

"If anyone with a valid Nova Scotia health card was mistakenly removed, they can call 811 to re-register, and we will ensure their place on the list is maintained," Elliott said.