left to right: Medical Student Brooke Hoffman, Dr Tsoi, Dr Belal, Dr Yazid, Executive Director Greg Hoffart, Medical Student Kieran JohnsonHusband and wife duo were introduced at the St Joseph's Hospital. Dr Belal and Dr Yazid are the two latest physicians to set up practice in Estevan.

"We're really thrilled to be able to announce the arrival of our latest two physicians," shared Greg Hoffart. "They're going to take up their practice next week here at the Estevan Clinic with Dr Tsoi and Dr Christie."

Dr Yazid graduated from Alexandria, Egypt in 1998.

"I've been practising family medicine since that time. We came to Canada seven years ago. Since then we've been in Ottawa, Edmonton and finally here in Estevan."

"I'm so happy to come to Estevan," added her husband, Dr Belal, "because we came as a family. We graduated from the same graduation class in 1998 from Alexandria University in Egypt. We came as a family to Canada in 2011. We stayed in Ottawa, Ontario for almost four years and we moved to Edmonton for two and a half years. Then we finally moved to Saskatchewan after we passed the SIPPA assessment."

The two have been married 19 years.

"We are always together."

"We are so excited to start our practice and help the people of Estevan."

"We are here to help you. We need to show our gratitude and appreciation to the people of Saskatchewan that they are accepting us as family medicine providers, so we'll do our best to help them."

They decided to join Dr Tsoi and Dr Christie at the Estevan Medical Clinic.

"This was the attracting point. That they have the experience in town, they have the full team. We don't need to establish a new business."

He added that their children, a son and daughter, are currently in Edmonton pursuing their education. It is very likely they may follow in their parents' footsteps and become physicians themselves. 

So far, they are enjoying Estevan. Dr Yazid added that their first impressions of Estevan have been positive.

"I think it's a very nice small city. It has all the facilities of the big cities but it still has the quiet that we're looking for, the relaxing environment. I think it will be a kind of resort for my kids when they want to get rid of the big city and the headache there. They can come and join us here for a nice break."

Hoffart added that they will continue to recruit more doctors to the area.  

"We've been waiting a long time for the arrival of a few doctors so it's really pleasing to us that we finally have them in town and to get them started."

"We are continually working on physician recruitment. We now have 12 physicians in town. We know it's been trying time for our community, we completely understand that and we've got a group of folks doing everything we can to try and recruit some physicians and we're happy to see it pay some dividends now."

He added that they are expecting a few more to arrive in the fall.