
Warman medical clinic closes in wake of dispute with Saskatoon Co-operative Association
CBC
A Warman, Sask., doctor is taking the Saskatoon Co-operative Association to court in a landlord-tenant dispute.
The legal dispute has left the city just north of Saskatoon down a medical clinic.
"It is very unfortunate that this situation has developed in the way that it did," lawyer Patrick Thomson said in an email to CBC.
"Dr. [Arvind] Rengarajan is on medical leave following an injury. He is still recovering and hopes to be back part-time in the new year."
Thomson is the lawyer for Rengarajan, the owner of Warman Medical and Urgent Care Centre. The clinic opened in 2017 and, until recently, offered diagnostic and blood work plus walk-in medical care. Saskatoon Co-op is its landlord.
The co-op declined interview requests from CBC.
According to an affidavit filed by Rengarajan, he had a good working relationship with his landlord. Shortly after opening the clinic in a strip mall on the west side of the city, the co-op opened a pharmacy next door.
"There were benefits to both businesses to being located in the same strip mall. I was happy to have this type of relationship with the Co-op," Rengarajan wrote in the affidavit.
He said the problems began in January 2022 when he was at a medical conference in Colorado. Rengarajan slipped while hiking and suffered a severe pelvic injury with nerve damage.
"I was totally incapacitated for three months and have been unable to practise medicine to date."
Rengarajan said he intended to renew the lease, but that his wife had to travel overseas for a family matter and, while away, there was confusion with the lease renewal paperwork.
According to a notice posted on the clinic door, the rent on the property is $85,554.63 in arrears.
The clinic is closed, but a medical imaging business on site is still operating.
"As of October 18, the Clinic was providing diagnostic and blood work serviced to 25 to 30 patients per week, roughly one third are cancer patients who need blood work on a weekly or daily basis. It was also providing continuity of care to Dr. Rengarajan's roughly 4,000 patients in Warman and Martensville area," Thomson wrote in an email.