Today the Colwood Clinic welcomes its second family physician, Dr. Muthanna Yacoub ("Dr. Mo") to the clinic team.
Dr. Yacoub grew up in Richmond Hill, Ontario and has been practicing medicine as a family physician in Colorado for the last six years. He and his wife were keen to return to Canada, and were drawn to the Colwood Clinic model and our beautiful seaside community.
"I respect Canada's nationalized model of health care delivery. If the poorest can get high quality care to the same calibre as the rich, that makes philosophical sense to me."
- Dr. Muthanna Yacoub
Since the Clinic's opening in January 2025, over 700 Colwood residents who didn't previously have a doctor are now in the care of Dr. Cassandra Stiller Moldovan.
About the Colwood Clinic
With a population of approximately 23,000 people, the City of Colwood found itself without a single family physician offering care in the community. When 69 per cent of Colwood residents indicated having a family doctor was their highest priority in the 2023 Life in Colwood Survey, Colwood Council took it to heart.
Colwood Council and staff worked with the Ministry of Health, Island Health and other partners to establish a municipal health care model. The City leased existing clinic space, and began recruiting to hire family physicians as municipal employees. Doctor and clinic staff salaries are funded by Provincial revenues through the Ministry of Health the same way physicians in other clinics bill for their time. It’s an innovative payment model made possible thanks to the BC Ministry of Health’s forward-thinking Longitudinal Family Physician Payment Program.
It’s an appealing offer for the doctors, who are part of a supportive team with a focus on well-being rather than on the business of running a clinic. They receive paid vacation and maternity/paternity leave, full medical benefits, and a defined pension from the Municipal Pension Plan.
A growing medical team
The Colwood Clinic opened in January 2025 in the seaside neighbourhood of Royal Bay in Colwood with Dr. Stiller-Moldovan as the first Family Physician. She's now joined by Dr. Yacoub. With anticipated patient caseloads of 1,250 each, the clinic now has the capacity to care for 2,500 Colwood residents.
And Colwood is not stopping there. A third doctor is scheduled to start in the new year, and several more family physicians have been interviewed as the City works toward its goal of hiring eight doctors to allow for every Colwood resident to have a family doctor close to home.
Colwood residents should ensure they are registered with the BC Health Connect Registry to access the Colwood Clinic. Learn more at www.Colwood.ca/ColwoodClinic
Media Contact
Sandra Russell, Communications Manager
srussell@colwood.ca
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