A physician who got his start in the Valley has recently been recognized by Doctors Manitoba as one of the Top 40 Under 40 in Medicine. Dr. Rafiq Andani established his start as a rural family physician in Swan River, before moving on to Winnipeg. Since his time in the Valley, his portfolio has grown significantly.
“I was born in Edmonton and raised just north of Toronto,” said Dr. Rafiq Andani. “I was an undergraduate at Sir Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, ON. I attended Medical School in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, then I completed my residency through the University of Manitoba in the Northern and Remote Family Medicine Training Program. My first job out of residency was in Swan River for Prairie Mountain Health.
“I never planned on being a physician. Originally, I wanted to do web design and software engineering. In high school, I started a company that made websites. I always joked that I had the idea for Facebook, long before Zuckerberg did. When I was growing up, my dad was pretty explicit that I didn’t have the resolve needed to survive in business. He said I was too kind and wouldn’t have the ability to fire someone when needed. He encouraged me to pursue something that was better suited to my demeanour. It was my father’s influence that led me to medicine over entrepreneurship.”
Dr. Andani’s time in Swan River gave him the diversity he needed to expand the scope of his practice.
“The reality is when a physician works in a community like Swan River, they will have the opportunity to do everything,” said Dr. Andani. “There isn’t an oncologist or addictions specialist on site; it’s the family physician that patients see in the ER that will manage every aspect of that patient’s care, from clinic to home. This is the same work any rural family physician encounters on a regular basis that adds to the scope of their practice. This all just came with the job, for me.
“So, when I left Swan River, I tried to recreate my practice to model what I had done there, to here in Winnipeg. It’s still not quite the same, because it’s a revolving door of new patients and you never get to build that relationship in caring for or treating a patient like you would in a rural community. Now, I do a bit of addictions medicine, a bit of oncology and emergency medicine, which I all started out doing in Swan River, and it’s evolved.”
Dr. Andani has written a chapter for the Manitoba Opioid Agonist Therapy Practice Manual. He knows the issues surrounding addictions and realized there needed to be more resources out there for practicing physicians.
“A lot of the literature around addiction medicine is sparse or limited, so it’s hard to find good resources around managing addiction medicine,” said Dr. Andani. “Because it’s becoming more prevalent and an issue, a small cohesive group of providers teamed up together to help create this manual.
“I didn’t have the desire to author a chapter in this manual, but it was out of my involvement with this well-supported group of like-minded individuals, that were asked to take on a small task of this relatively bigger issue.”
Dr. Andani currently serves as a medical consultant for the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB). This came from his work in Swan River, being part of a group that established some medical resources in a local First Nation community. That experience grew when the pandemic hit.
“That opportunity was from work I helped during the waves and peaks of the pandemic,” said Dr. Andani.
“Early into the pandemic, we learned from influenza and other outbreaks that had occurred in remote and isolated First Nation communities, there was a concerted effort from Indigenous leadership, in partnership with Indigenous organizations and government to help mitigate the impacts COVID-19 would have on these communities.
“My role through the partnership included the federal and provincial governments and the university. We had rapid response teams that would assist First Nation communities with COVID-19 outbreaks. One of the instruments in the public health response was to help facilitate testing. That involved me becoming more aware of those arbitrary jurisdictional boundaries that exist between Indigenous communities, the provincial and federal partnerships and the health systems. I think we did an okay job of expanding the testing and public health interventions through that work.
“From there, there was a recognition for the FNIHB to expand testing and diagnostic capacity within the nursing stations,” said Dr. Andani. “I was asked to join FNIHB in this medical consulting to help oversee and support lab diagnostic expansion. Now we’re expanding it to actual acute and emergency care, and lab diagnostics.
“If it was for my experience working in Swan River, I wouldn’t have been provided the opportunities to do this kind of work. The reason is that Swan River Hospital was one of the first pilot sites for point-of-care diagnostics in our lab as part of the Shared Health DSM Point of Care Project. It was serendipitous that I was learning point-of-care diagnostics in Swan River and then it would eventually come full circle to become part of my portfolio of work.
“A group of doctors I was working with in Swan River, started up a clinic in Sapotaweyak Cree Nation,” said Dr. Andani. “Part of that work not only involved expanding access to physician and nurse resources, but expanding the lab diagnostic capacity as well. I still feel like a lot of the work I am doing now still replicates the work that we started in Swan River, just on a different scale.”
Dr. Andani is also the first Associate Chief Medical Officer for Shared Health.
“This gives me some latitude to work on some projects without being the face of big decisions,” said Dr. Andani. “Shared Health has been a bit of a hot topic when it comes to the recent election, the discourse around healthcare, and what is the right way to manage, fund and incentivize our existing healthcare resources and expand them.
“Shared Health as an organization has a very important role in maintaining a provincial macroscopic perspective on resource allocation, distribution and maximizing efficiency while minimizing risk throughout the province. That coordination we saw during the peak parts of the pandemic really demonstrated the need for that type of superstructure.
“At its core, the problem then becomes, especially for providers in communities that are not in Winnipeg, how much of that voice and perspective is reflected in the organization,” said Dr. Andani. “Having trained in Swan River and in the Northern and Remote Family Medicine Program, the advantage of bringing in someone like me to fill the role as the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Shared Health is to provide that perspective to ground decisions and strategic planning around a perspective that is not exclusive to urban Winnipeg. I think that is primarily why the role was created and how I bring a unique lens to the Shared Health structure.”
Being named one of Manitoba Doctors’ Top 40 Under 40 in Medicine is quite an honour for Dr. Andani, but he knows there are some very important people who helped him get to where he is today, and for that, he wishes he could give them the spotlight as well.
“It was a nice experience,” said Dr. Andani. “I always think of these accolades as not a personal achievement, but more of a recognition of all the effort and sacrifice that people around me have contributed to my success. Although, it’s nice to see my name and picture, what it doesn’t capture is all the family and support that has allowed me to be recognized in this way. I think I could have 40 people as my top 40 that were the ones responsible for me receiving this award and it’s hard to capture that.”