About 4,000 British Columbians are being connected with family doctors each week through the province's Health Connect Register 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ“ a 52-per-cent increase from the same time last year.

But there are still about 300,000 people in the province waiting to be matched.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said Tuesday (Sept. 17) that more than 248,000 people have been connected with a family doctor or nurse practitioner since the registry launched in July 2023. Dix was in Surrey as part of at the new Surrey hospital.

Dix said there are 313,000 "spaces" available, which means doctors who have people to add to their patient panel or doctors who are new to practice and are building up their patient panel. 

He said "we're adding new doctors everyday."

But at 4,000 matches a week, with 300,000 people remaining, that's still about 75 weeks until that list is complete. 

The province estimated that about 160,000 more people will be matched in the next six months. 

Premier David said the province is "on track" to add and connect 250,000 more British Columbians to a family doctor or nurse practitioner, but he didn't say when. 

"But it's certain that there are many, many more British Columbians, hundreds of thousands, who are not on the list, and we do encourage people to register, because that is the fastest way to get connected to a family doctor."