‘The whole idea is to offer a walk-in clinic together with a family practice,’ says Hamilton Dias, QuickPill owner and pharmacist

Fresh from the United Kingdom, Orillia has a new family physician who is working out of the new QuickPill Walk-In Clinic and Pharmacy. He is accepting new patients.

Dr. Bashir Tanko, who goes by Dr. Bash, started working at QuickPill two weeks ago, soon after arriving in Canada for the job. His wife will soon be joining him.

“I trained in the U.K. with my wife. My wife is also a family physician,” said Tanko, 41.

Originally from Nigeria, Tanko has been a family doctor since 2013. He has spent the last few months getting his licence registered for Canada.

Orillia QuickPill is owned by pharmacist Parth Ghelani, who works at the clinic that opened in May at the 575 West St. S. plaza.

Ghelani trained in his home country of India, but has been in Canada for several years. He completed his licensing exams in Canada and trained and worked in Alberta and Saskatchewan before opening the Orillia Quick Pill. He lives with his family in Barrie.

“My goal is to provide easy access to care. I have worked in Orillia as well as Muskoka region, but this was the closest option for me to open up,” he said.

“We can provide seamless care for the patients. It’s like a one-stop shop. They can be seen by the doctors, the prescription gets filled here and they are done. They don’t have to wait long to get their prescription filled,” he said.

QuickPill, started by a trio of pharmacists, now has three locations, with one in Barrie and another in Toronto. Barrie QuickPill opened in 2020 as a pharmacy with a virtual clinic at 6-555 Mapleview Dr. W.

“The whole idea is to offer a walk-in clinic together with a family practice,” said Hamilton Dias, owner and pharmacist.

Fellow QuickPill owner and pharmacist Harsh Patel said they quickly saw how much demand there is for doctors when they started the Barrie location with telemedicine. 

“We saw a gap. A lot of patients didn’t have family doctors and they didn’t have access to a walk-in clinic. We did a lot of COVID vaccines,” said Patel.

“Even with the telemedicine we had so many patients asking to see a doctors. We brought in doctors and they saw how busy we were,” said Patel.

Patel said the business model is working well because people can make an appointment and can often be seen within 15 minutes of that time. Then, they can get their prescription filled on site and are out the door, often in less than 30 minutes, he said.

“We created a solution for the community and that’s what we want to replicate in Orillia as well.” 

To that end, they have brought Phil Jaffe from the Barrie location. Jaffe is a physician from Florida but hasn’t completed his paperwork to practise in Canada. He is working as a clinical assistant.

“We are a very international group,” said Jaffe.

Jaffe helped build up the Barrie location and will now be working in both Barrie and Orillia, as will Dr. Bash, said Patel.

People can walk in and simply purchase cold remedies, for example, without seeing a doctor. Or, people can also walk in for treatment, or book an appointment by phone or online. Patients who have a family physician are welcome as well as patients looking for one, he explained. Telemedicine remains available, too, Jaffe said.

Anyone with a valid Ontario Health Card can get treatment free of charge.

Because the clinic doesn’t have a lot of medical equipment, Jaffe sometimes refers people to the hospital emergency department.

“It’s basically the degree of service that you need. If you have a burn, or a minor cut or a rash, we can do that remotely or here in person, but if your arm is hanging off, then you have to go to the ER,” he said.

“I’ve sent a few people over to the hospital for cardiac risk and larger injuries,” said Jaffe.

On the other hand, the walk-in clinic is taking the pressure off Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital, he noted.

“We are taking the pressure off the ER if they come in with poison ivy, or need suture removal or they have a urinary tract infection; they don’t need to sit in the ER for hours,” he said.

Lylie Maracle, of Orillia, came into the walk-in clinic this week. She has a family doctor in Penetanguishene.

“I went to the hospital because I have an ear infection and I was given antibiotics,” Maracle said. She came to QuickPill for a follow-up.

“The lovely doctor here asked me to come back to check out my hearing and make sure the infection was gone,” Maracle said. “It’s awesome to have walk-in clinics back, because I know they closed down during COVID. They are amazing here.”

Anyone interested in rostering with Dr. Bash can do so through Health Care Connect or through QuickPill at 705-242-3121. 

The clinic and pharmacy is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.