Nova Scotia’s Health and Wellness minister says the province needs to “stretch” as it grapples with the growing list of residents needing primary care.

According to Action for Health through Nova Scotia Health, 160,234 Nova Scotians were on the Need a Family Practice Registry as of June 1. More than half of those are located in the central zone, which makes up the HRM and surrounding areas.

Answering reporters’ questions earlier this week at the legislature, Michelle Thompson said retirement and an increased population have heightened the growing need for a family practice list, which has grown nearly six per cent from 11 months ago.

“One of the reasons that we know that the list continues to grow is because we do have a population moving. So around 30 per cent of the people on the list say that they’ve come here,” Thompson told reporters.

“Premier (Tim) Houston will say that these are the problems of growth, and we accept those.”

According to Nova Scotia Health, nearly 800 residents joined the list after their family doctor retired in May. Over 600 people who joined the list also identified as new to Nova Scotia.

Statistics Canada data shows more than 492,000 residents live in Halifax, which accounts for 58 per cent of Nova Scotia’s growth. The capital saw a population increase of four per cent from 2022 to 2023.

“We can’t wait for everything to be perfect,” Thompson said.

“We have to stretch ourselves, and we have to work really, really hard. We want our province to grow,”

The ask for more patience from Nova Scotia caught the attention of both opposition parties, which outlined their concerns for one of Premier Houston’s primary mandates, health care.

The NDP party gave Houston a failing grade on the health care file, calling for more action from the premier.

“Nova Scotians are stretched beyond belief,” Nova Scotia NDP Leader Claudia Chender said.

“I think that Nova Scotians, deserve to be attached to primary care. Nova Scotians deserve to know that if they get sick, they will be taken care of by our health care system.”

The minister said the province should be “heartened” by its recruitment of family physicians. According to Nova Scotia Health, the province has a net gain of nearly 30 per cent for family physicians and has had continuous growth since 2019.

“Last year, we created more than 900,000 appointments for care across the system, in addition to what was already happening in hospitals and family practice clinics and collaborative practices. And just last month, more than 70,000 Nova Scotians had an appointment and one of the options for virtual care,” Katrina Philopoulos, physician recruitment director for Nova Scotia Health, told Global News.

“We’re meeting physicians all over the world, and we’re inviting them for site visits. And you know what? We show up in spectacular fashion. We bring physicians here. They fall in love with our province.”