Dr. Rithesh Ram

Dr. Rithesh Ram Physician, President, Founder of Riverside Medical & Family Man. Specialty: Family Medicine, Epidemio

Across Alberta, hospitals are under strain.Capacity is tight. Admissions are up. Frontline teams are stretched.That real...
02/11/2026

Across Alberta, hospitals are under strain.
Capacity is tight. Admissions are up. Frontline teams are stretched.

That reality deserves honesty.

One of the most difficult conversations we’re not having openly is about the tension between personal choice and public responsibility in a publicly funded healthcare system.

Care should never be conditional - but responsibility has consequences in a shared system.

When people repeatedly decline evidence-based prevention - including vaccines - yet still require hospital care when outcomes worsen, it creates real strain. Not just on the system, but on the people working within it.

This isn’t about punishment.
It isn’t about denying care.

It is about acknowledging that healthcare resources are finite - and that prevention matters.

We see this disconnect every day:

declining vaccines but requesting antibiotics for viral illness
rejecting public health guidance but expecting immediate intervention when outcomes worsen
mistrusting medical expertise until something goes wrong

A publicly funded system relies on a basic social contract:
that individuals and institutions work together to reduce avoidable harm.

When that contract breaks down, the consequences ripple outward - longer waits, fewer beds, delayed care for others, and moral distress for healthcare workers trying to do the right thing in impossible circumstances.

I don’t pretend to have simple answers.
But avoiding the conversation isn’t neutral - it actively worsens outcomes.

If we want a healthcare system that remains publicly funded, accessible, and humane, we have to talk honestly about prevention, responsibility, and how shared resources are used - even when that conversation is uncomfortable.

–––
Pragmatic about Alberta’s healthcare challenges.
Committed to honest conversations that put patients first.

Rural Generalist Doctor | Educator | Advocate

Arrested… again. And happily guilty.Last month, I was “jailed” for the third time as part of the Drumheller Legion’s Jai...
02/07/2026

Arrested… again. And happily guilty.

Last month, I was “jailed” for the third time as part of the Drumheller Legion’s Jail & Bail fundraiser - and honestly, it’s one of my favourite community events.

For those who haven’t seen it before: a warrant gets issued (this year, apparently for my messy handwriting), I get zip-tied, escorted from the clinic, and thrown into a mock jail - phone included - until I raise my bail by asking friends, colleagues, and community members to help “set me free.”

This year was something special.

Not only did the Legion make the process easier with online donations, but the response was incredible. I raised about $5,500 - more than double my contributions the last time - and the event itself surpassed $40,000 toward much-needed electrical upgrades at the Legion as well as other structural repairs and improvements..

What makes this meaningful isn’t just the fundraising. It’s the reminder of how strong, generous, and connected this community is. People showed up, shared a laugh, and supported something that matters.

This is one of the many reasons I love living and practising medicine in rural Alberta.

Thank you to the Drumheller Legion for organizing such a fun and impactful event - and thank you to everyone locally and nationally who donated, shared, and helped bail me out (again).

See you next time… hopefully not behind bars.

Dr. Rithesh Ram
Rural Generalist Physician | Drumheller, Alberta

02/06/2026

One of the most preventable breakdowns in our healthcare system happens at transition points - especially when pediatric patients age into adult care.

Too often, when a patient approaches 18, pediatric services disengage abruptly.
The message becomes: “You’re an adult now - go back to your GP and figure out what’s next.”

That makes no sense.

If a pediatric cardiologist has followed a patient for years, continuity of care should be straightforward:

a direct handoff to adult cardiology
shared clinical notes
a coordinated transition plan

Instead, the burden is often pushed onto primary care - forcing GPs to re-refer, re-collect records, and rebuild connections that already exist.

That isn’t primarily a system failure - it’s a failure of professional responsibility.

And the same pattern plays out in hospitals every day.

Emergency departments struggle not only because of volume, but because patients who should be admitted remain stuck while services debate responsibility. Hours - sometimes days - are lost while teams avoid taking ownership.

The public rarely sees this.
What they hear is that the system is overwhelmed or under-resourced.

But much of the delay comes from something harder to confront:
handoffs that never happen, and accountability that gets deferred.

Continuity of care isn’t optional.
It’s a professional obligation.

If we want to improve access, reduce emergency congestion, and actually serve patients well, we have to be willing to look beyond abstract “system problems” and address how care is delivered - or avoided - at the human level.

Because when responsibility is passed around, patients are the ones who pay the price.

–––
Pragmatic about Alberta’s healthcare challenges.
Committed to honest conversations that put patients first.

Rural Generalist Doctor | Educator | Advocate

Patients don’t come in neat little packages - and neither should medical education.For decades, medical education has fo...
01/30/2026

Patients don’t come in neat little packages - and neither should medical education.
For decades, medical education has followed a traditional, block-based model:
➡️ A month of general surgery.
➡️ A month of psychiatry.
➡️ A month of family medicine.

You’d move through each discipline in silos - often never returning to one after your “block” ended.

But here’s the problem: patients don’t show up in blocks.
They show up with multiple conditions, layered experiences, and complex realities.
That’s why longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs) were created. Instead of training in isolated blocks, students experience all disciplines, all the way through.

The result?
✔️ Better prepared.
✔️ More balanced.
✔️ More successful.
✔️ And yes - happier.

Every Canadian medical school now has an LIC, and even Harvard and Stanford have adopted this model. At the University of Calgary, I’ve been privileged to direct our program for the past 9 years. It’s not just “another way” to train physicians - it’s one of the most effective strategies we’ve seen to address rural and remote healthcare needs.

Two-thirds of our graduates work in rural or remote communities during their careers - a success rate higher than any other provincial or federal initiative.

Because when medical education reflects the real world, students don’t just become doctors.

They become doctors who stay.

👉 Would you want your doctor trained in blocks - or integrated with real-world complexity?
–––
Pragmatic about Alberta’s healthcare challenges.
Relentless about fixing what’s broken - to make medicine more honest, human, and sustainable.
Rural Generalist Doctor | Educator | Advocate

01/28/2026

I don’t believe AI is going to replace physicians.
But if we stand still, it might.

In a remarkably short period of time, AI has already outperformed physicians on medical exams.
That part isn’t shocking anymore.

What makes people uneasy is the next question:
Could AI outperform us in clinical reasoning?

Clinical reasoning is the heart of medicine.
It’s what we do when patients walk in undifferentiated - a mix of symptoms, concerns, and concerns - and we apply judgment, pattern recognition, and experience to decide what comes next.

Some worry that AI will replace us there too.
I see it differently.

This isn’t about replacement.
It’s about partnership.

AI doesn’t need to compete with physicians - and physicians can’t realistically outpace AI on their own. It will always move faster, process more, and retain more information than any individual human ever could.

But if we partner with it?
AI can:
expand our knowledge base
strengthen our clinical reasoning
increase confidence in complex decision-making
support better outcomes for patients and the system as a whole

The risk isn’t that AI advances.
The risk is that we don’t advance with it.

Medicine has always evolved. This is simply the next evolution - and one we should shape thoughtfully, not fear reflexively.

The future of healthcare isn’t humans versus AI.

It’s humans working alongside AI - and doing what we do best, even better.
–––
Pragmatic about Alberta’s healthcare challenges.
Relentless about fixing what’s broken – to make medicine more honest, human, and sustainable.

The recent death of a man in an Edmonton emergency department is heartbreaking.Any loss of life in that setting is a tra...
01/23/2026

The recent death of a man in an Edmonton emergency department is heartbreaking.

Any loss of life in that setting is a tragedy - for the patient, their family, and for everyone involved.

As physicians, we owe it to the public to approach moments like this with care and honesty.

In the immediate aftermath, it’s common to hear one explanation repeated over and over:
“The system is broken.”

While our healthcare system absolutely has serious challenges, not every tragedy can - or should - be attributed to system failure alone.

Speaking as someone who works regularly in a busy rural emergency departments:
a patient presenting with chest pain should not sit for hours without basic assessment, blood work, or investigation - even in very busy emergency departments.

Even in overwhelmed environments, there are protocols, safeguards, and clinical responsibilities that exist to prevent exactly this outcome.

That doesn’t mean we ignore system pressures.
It also doesn’t mean we rush to public blame or condemnation.

But it does mean we must be willing to ask difficult questions about individual accountability, clinical decision-making, and professional responsibility - especially when the stakes are life and death.

If we label every failure as a “system problem,” we risk avoiding the harder, but necessary, work of learning from what went wrong - and ensuring it doesn’t happen again.

This tragedy deserves more than outrage.
It deserves reflection, responsibility, and a collective commitment to do better.
–––
Pragmatic about Alberta’s healthcare challenges.
Committed to honest conversations that put patients first.

Rural Generalist Doctor | Educator | Advocate

01/21/2026

This or That - my take on health, habits, and everything in between.
Let’s start with one I’m really passionate about.

The most important question of all:
Star Trek or The Lord of the Rings?

I have to say Star Trek.
I’ve watched all of them (and continue to), and I’m fairly convinced that if I were

Captain Picard in space, my entire life journey would suddenly make sense. 🚀

That said… December changes things.
Every year, Lord of the Rings becomes my Christmas trilogy.
All three movies. About 12 hours total. Zero complaints. 🎄⚔️

And if I’m cooking, there’s a very good chance the Lord of the Rings soundtrack is playing in the background - no matter what I’m making.
—
This or That - from health to habits, and everything in between.
Dr. Ram
Drumheller, Alberta Doctor | Rural Generalist

01/16/2026

I NEED BAIL MONEY!
e Transfer Information for bail me out
rclbr22@gmail.com
In Message, put Bail Me Out Donation for Dr. Ram
Leave a comment on this post so I know you helped me out!
Thank you!!

Lately there’s been a lot of talk about how “money alone won’t fix primary care.”And it’s true - culture matters. We nee...
01/16/2026

Lately there’s been a lot of talk about how “money alone won’t fix primary care.”

And it’s true - culture matters. We need to shift public understanding of what the system costs, when to seek care, and why prevention is worth it.

But here’s the problem: we can’t dismiss money as part of the solution.

Right now in Alberta, less than 10% of the healthcare budget goes to prevention and primary care. Over 90% is spent on consequences.

Examples such as:
➡️ Patients ignoring diabetes until they’re admitted to hospital in crisis.
➡️ Conditions left unmanaged until they cost tens of thousands more in acute care.

It doesn’t take many cases like this to skew the system - and it’s exactly why our budgets look the way they do.

If we’re serious about saving primary care, we need to do two things at once:
✔️ Shift dollars toward prevention and primary care.
✔️ Educate and empower the public on the value of using it.

Because without that first step - reallocating dollars to primary care - the rest is just talk.

👉 What do you think: if you had to re-balance the healthcare budget, where would you start?
–––
Pragmatic about Alberta’s healthcare challenges.
Relentless about fixing what’s broken - to make medicine more honest, human, and sustainable.
Rural Generalist Doctor | Educator | Advocate

Danielle Smith
Adriana LaGrange
Nate Horner

01/14/2026

More doctors doesn’t mean better access.
That’s the problem.

It’s a nice headline:
📈 The number of physicians has increased.
📉 The number of Canadians without a physician has gone down.
That sounds like progress.

But here’s the disconnect:
being “attached” to a physician does not mean you can actually see one when you need care.

Attachment is a statistic. Access is an experience.
Access is what people want.

Not the idea that they could see someone.
Not a name on a list.
Actual, timely access when a health concern comes up.

Even the same survey behind these positive headlines shows the reality hasn’t changed much:
Many Canadians still struggle to see their own physician
Delays remain for investigations and screenings

Access to care - not attachment to a doctor - is the ongoing issue
Attachment is one checkbox.
Access is the one that matters.

Longitudinal care, from a public perspective, simply means this:
➡️ when something is wrong, you can be seen within a reasonable timeframe.
That doesn’t mean every concern requires same-day care - but it does mean timely, predictable access when it truly matters.

Until we define access clearly, fund it properly, and build systems around it, we’ll keep celebrating progress that doesn’t match people’s lived experience.

Because a feel-good headline doesn’t fix a broken access problem.
–––
Pragmatic about Alberta’s healthcare challenges.
Relentless about fixing what’s broken – to make medicine more honest, human, and sustainable.

Rural Generalist Doctor | Educator | Advocate

Deeply honoured to receive this recognition.I was truly humbled to receive the Westview Physician Collaborative Endowmen...
01/09/2026

Deeply honoured to receive this recognition.
I was truly humbled to receive the Westview Physician Collaborative Endowment in Family Medicine Award, presented through the University of Alberta Department of Family Medicine.

What made this recognition especially meaningful was learning that it was sponsored by Dr. Allan Bailey, who shared that the award was created to recognize leadership, innovation, and advocacy in strengthening primary care - work he has seen firsthand over time. That meant a great deal to me.

This award reflects something I believe deeply:
that primary care is the foundation of a strong healthcare system, and that meaningful change comes from advocacy, collaboration, and a willingness to challenge the status quo.

I’m grateful to the Department of Family Medicine, to colleagues across UAlberta and UCalgary, and to partners like DLRI who continue to support innovation in family medicine and rural health.

Most of all, I’m thankful to the patients, communities, and teams who make this work matter every day.

This work is never done alone - and this recognition reflects that.
–––
Celebrating leadership, innovation, and care.
Rural Generalist Doctor | Educator | Advocate


Department of Family Medicine University of Alberta

I realize this is a controversial topic - maybe even a polarizing one. But it’s an important conversation if we care abo...
01/07/2026

I realize this is a controversial topic - maybe even a polarizing one. But it’s an important conversation if we care about the future of healthcare in Alberta.
Albertans have to pay for their COVID shots.

On the surface, the argument seems simple:
💰 Don’t waste public money on vaccines people won’t use.

But here’s the problem.
When we frame vaccination as a waste instead of a preventive tool, we deepen the cultural divide. We reinforce the idea that prevention isn’t worth investing in - even when the alternative is far more expensive.

Because the reality is this:
➡️ When people get sick, they miss work.
➡️ They seek medical care that’s already stretched thin.
➡️ They need hospital beds that are already full.

The “savings” today become hundreds of millions in costs tomorrow.
So the real question is: what do we value as a society?
Do we want policies that strengthen prevention and shift culture toward health?
Or are we willing to accept short-term savings that drive long-term strain?

If choice is truly the priority - what does that mean for public dollars? Should taxpayers fund the outcomes of every personal choice, no matter the cost?

These are uncomfortable questions.
They challenge our Canadian instinct to cover everyone, no matter what.

If we want a sustainable healthcare system, we can’t keep pretending prevention doesn’t matter.

👉 Where do you think the balance lies - between individual choice and collective responsibility?
–––
Pragmatic about Alberta’s healthcare challenges.
Relentless about fixing what’s broken - to make medicine more honest, human, and sustainable.
Rural Generalist Doctor | Educator | Advocate

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Drumheller, AB
T0J0Y0

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DR. RITHESH RAM

PHYSICIAN, PRESIDENT, FOUNDER & FAMILY MAN


  • Specialty: Family Medicine, Epidemiology, Teaching, Medical Leadership

  • Special interests: Emergency Care, Mental Health, Chronic Pain,

  • biographical background: