Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister Ross Wiseman said Thursday he is trying to hang on to the province's only gynecological oncologists even though all three announced their resignations in July.

Wiseman wouldn't specify what his department is doing to try to keep the specialists, but he did say that letters had been written to each of the doctors, addressing concerns they raised when they announced they intended to leave the province.

Doctors Cathy Popadiuk, Lesa Dawson and Patti Power, the only specialists in the province treating female patients with cancers of the reproductive system, all said they plan to leave in October.

Wiseman said Thursday that the province is trying to fix patient-care problems and trying to find more money for specialists.

"We're looking at a new method of payment of physicians and that's only going to be within seven months," Wiseman told CBC News.

The gynecological oncologists were not included in a dramatic pay increase for health professionals that Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams announced in May.

That deal applied only to pathologists and medical and radiation oncologists. It included a 35 per cent increase for eligible oncologists, as well as increases to other benefits.

One of the gynecological oncologists previously told CBC News that the pay dispute is not why the three specialists submitted their resignations.

She said they are more concerned about patient safety, and issues involving respect in the workplace.

Patients will have to leave province for treatment

Wiseman said if the three specialists leave, female cancer patients will be forced to leave the province for treatment.

"If necessary, there's about 150 women who need surgical procedures every year, those surgical procedures may need to happen in some other province, but the rest of their care would be provided within the province," he said.

Elisabeth Ross, executive director of Ovarian Cancer Canada, said that is unacceptable.

"To think that they would have to leave the community where they have their support system, where they're families are, where their homes are," she said. "When they're feeling so poorly ... it would be so much more difficult."

The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association's master agreement expires in 2009.

According to the NLMA, there are only 50 gynecologist oncologists in the country, and only three new specialists are poised to enter the Canadian system this year.