Barrett Chapin: Health of community will suffer for absence of 4 doctors

To The Daily Sun,

I would like to add to the community outcry about the Concord Hospital administration having made a huge mistake by firing three excellent primary care physicians, Drs. Gurvinder Bali, Valentin Milchev, and Daniel Kalmerten, and making the working conditions for a fourth, Dr. Hillary Conkling, so unpleasant that she chose to leave her practice just a couple of months ago.

It had been my good fortune and pleasure to work as a physician here in the Lakes Region, first doing primary care while building my practice in endocrinology and eventually doing just that specialty full-time. During that time, I have worked closely with all four of these doctors and know them not only to be excellent physicians, but also kind and caring people.

It is nearly impossible to attract young physicians to this area. During my entire 24 year tenure at The Clinic, we were always looking to hire a dermatologist (which we never able to do), and primary care doctors. We were lucky to get Drs. Bali, Milchev, and Conkling as well as have Dr. Kalmerten cut back on his ER practice to do more primary care. Due to the very non-patient-centric decisions of the Concord Hospital administration, poof, they are gone. The health of our community will suffer for their absence.

Barrett Chapin

Belmont