Selkirk doctor says he never wanted to leave the community

Dr. Lamin Benshaban is temporarily working at the Leila Medical Clinic in Winnipeg. The Red River Medical Clinic, which he ran for the last five years in Selkirk, closed at the end of June but the doctor says he never wanted to leave the city.

By Austin Grabish

A Selkirk doctor, who abruptly closed his walk-in clinic’s doors in June, says he didn’t want to leave the city and is desperately looking for a way to come back.

Dr. Lamin Benshaban was the primary physician at the Red River Medical Clinic, which shut down suddenly on June 28.

Benshaban said he had to close his clinic because his lease with Towers Realty Group, which owns Selkirk Town Plaza, was up and mall management wouldn’t let him renew it, instead they offered him a chance to rent the space on a month-to-month to basis.

Benshaban said he declined, citing uncertainty as a concern, and in July started working at a clinic on Ellice Ave. in Winnipeg, before moving to the Leila Medical Clinic.

“I told them I can’t go for that space just after a month you ask me to move again, that doesn’t make any sense,” Benshaban said.

Benshaban is a father of four and lives in Winnipeg but insists he never wanted to leave Selkirk despite the daily commute.

“I’m still hoping to go back,” he said. 

“I felt I am connected to the people there and I have hard time to quit that clinic.”

Benshaban had worked at his Selkirk clinic for five years before it closed in June.

The clinic was technically a walk-in, but the majority of patients were regulars of Benshaban’s who couldn’t find a family doctor, he said.

The doctor estimates he would see 40 to 50 patients in his clinic on an average day.

He estimates the Red River Medical Clinic has at least 3,000 patient charts and some belong to longtime patients who were there before he took over the clinic in June 2010.

The files remain in Selkirk, but Benshaban admits he doesn’t have a timeframe of when he could be returning to the city.

“For the last two months I’ve been in a dilemma,” he said. “You don’t know what you have to do, because something happened without plan to do this move.”

Benshaban said Towers Realty offered him a different spot in the mall, but the estimated $40,000 in set up costs for him to move was too expensive.

Property manager Linda Muron said she couldn’t comment on the matter, because she didn’t handle the file. However, she did say leases and their length vary and depend on both the person coming forward and agents who handle the contracts.

“It just depends on what the individual wants and if the landlord and owner is prepared to accept it,” Muron said.

Benshaban said he is still exploring other options that would let him re-open in Selkirk, but warned if nothing happens soon he may not come back to the community.

“If it’s going to take too long, I’m not sure,” he said. “I’m going to establish patients here (in Winnipeg).”

Benshaban said he is welcoming patients in Winnipeg, in the meantime and can be reached at the Leila Clinic by phone at 204-953-2787. 

 -- First published in the Selkirk Record print edition August 20 2015 p.11