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Physicians at a clinic in Sundre say they’re withdrawing their services at a local hospital, citing provincial cuts to doctors’ compensation.

Doctors at the Moose and Squirrel Medical Clinic say they’ll stop delivering babies at the nearby Sundre Hospital and Care Centre and have given the province 90 days’ notice that they’ll no longer provide acute care and emergency service there.

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In a sometimes emotional video conference produced Thursday targeting their 4,000 patients, some of the clinic’s eight physicians said they wrestled with the decision before coming to what they called a painful choice.

“We are devastated that it has come to this, but this is a consequence of the government’s decisions and cuts and if we don’t react and change, we won’t be here at all,” said Dr. Michelle Warren.

In the video, Dr. Robert Warren predicted similar actions will be taken by their colleagues across the province in response to government policy he insists targets rural practitioners.

“The cuts that came through were very, very tilted towards rural medicine,” he said.

“Every rural clinic is having the same conversations and coming to the same conclusions … They’ll have to cut something out.”