Health Minister Ross Wiseman said his government will recruit new gynecologic oncologists if it needs to do so. (CBC)

Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister is not deeply troubled by threatened resignations of all the province's gynecologic oncologists.

Three specialists who treat women with cancers of the reproductive system have informed the Eastern Health regional authority that they intend to resign in October.

Doctors Cathy Popadiuk, Lesa Dawson and Patti Power, who have not yet commented publicly on their decision, have said that workloads are threatening patient safety. They also decided to leave for what has been described as a lack of respect in their workplace.

Health Minister Ross Wiseman, though, said he is not prepared to enter new negotiations involving a specific set of doctors, especially when the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association's master agreement expires next year.

"In April, we'll be talking about those as they surface," Wiseman said.

"We're not in a position to take, in the medical community, every single discipline and [deal] with unique circumstances and one-offs. [That's] the whole idea of having a collective agreement, for all bodies and all groups within that organization."

The Newfoundland and Labrador government announced in May a massive pay increase for pathologists, and medical and radiation oncologists.

The deal, which Wiseman said followed a special appeal from the NLMA about threatened resignations from specialists who treat breast cancer patients, angered the NLMA and other doctors, as it was unilaterally imposed and unfair to other specialists.

Meanwhile, Wiseman said Newfoundland and Labrador will recruit new gynecologic oncologists if Popadiuk, Dawson and Power leave the province.

Specialists hard to come by

NLMA president Dr. Elizabeth Callahan, though, said that will be difficult, as there are only 50 such specialists in the country, and only three new specialists are poised to enter the Canadian system this year.

Callahan said the government may have no choice but to fly patients with cervical, ovarian or other cancers out of the province for treatment.

Wiseman said the government is prepared for such a consequence.

"These are a variety of options that we are willing to explore."

The doctors and the NLMA say their concerns were brought to the government in March. However, Wiseman said government was not told about the gynecologic oncologists' complaints until a meeting in June, after the pay package was announced for other oncologists.