Major recruiting efforts and exhaustive searches have resulted in the arrival of three new doctors in the Weyburn area.

Dr. Serhii Haidash has set up practice with Dr. George Benloulou, while the husband and wife team of Werner Oberholzer and Nelleke Helms have located in Radville with an office at the Radville Marian Health Centre.

Benloulou, who spent nine months searching for a partner on the Internet, in journal magazines and through the College of Family Physicians, says it would be easier "to dig a tunnel from here to China," than recruit doctors and keep them.

In the nine years he has practiced in Weyburn, Benloulou has brought 18 doctors to Weyburn and watched them leave.

"Why work in Saskatchewan when you can work in Alberta for better incentives? If you're Canadian, why work in a smaller centre if you can work in a large centre for more money?" he asked.

However, Haidash says he plans to settle down in Weyburn with his wife and 14-year-old daughter.

"I like it - it's a small town with friendly people. It's pretty and very similar to our motherland," said Haidash, who comes from Ukraine.

Haidash finished medical school in Ukraine in 1987 and set up practice there. In 1995 he and his family moved to British Colombia.

They searched for a new location for a year and a half before they saw the Weyburn posting on the Internet.

"It's that feeling of a place you'd like to stay," said Haidash of Weyburn. "We are planning to stay here for a long period. It's small enough to enjoy and big enough to do business."

Haidash also said he was impressed with the Weyburn General Hospital.

Dr. Oberholzer has been practicing in Radville for about a month, and will be joined by his wife in a half-time capacity in a few weeks.

The South African-based doctors looked at wide range of clinics in Saskatchewan in the fall and eventually chose Radville.

The pretty setting, friendly people, staff at the medical centre and good school weren't the only factors that influenced their decision.

But when people ask the doctor why he left South Africa, he says he had three reasons.

"They're seven, five and three years old," said Oberholzer, referring to his children. "There is no option to raise kids (in South Africa) anymore with the violence, political unrest and degradation of schools and the medical system at an unbelievable rate."

Oberholzer has also taken advantage another Canadian plus.

"The ice hockey is good. I'm trying to play, or trying to stand upright. I'm still learning skating," said the doctor, who had to treat his stomach for frostbite after one chilly game.

But the chilly weather he was warned about hasn't appeared.

"They promised me ten patients a day and six feet of snow. Now I have six feet of patients and no snow," Oberholzer joked.

Rick Schindel, CEO of the Radville Marian Health Centre, says having two doctors in Radville is a big benefit.

They have also provided new emergency equipment at the health centre, including an ECG machine, medical emergency cart and a vital signs monitor.

"We want to get quality health care here and that's part of the process we have to go through," said Schindel.