New walk-in clinic seeks to provide greater access to health care in Mississauga

Residents in Mississauga’s south end have access to another health-care option with the opening of a new walk-in clinic in Port Credit.

Rexall, a Canadian pharmacy chain with some 400 locations across the country, is opening its first Pharmacist Care Walk-In Clinic in Port Credit next week. A grand opening is planned for July 12 at the clinic, located at 175 Lakeshore Rd. W.

The opening is part of Rexall’s plan to expand its health-care services to those who need such access, company officials said in an email announcing the new site.

With increased pressure on the health-care system to provide enough access to all, they added, more walk-in sites are badly needed.

“With an estimated 6.5 million people in Canada without access to primary care, this evolution of pharmacy care is better supporting the needs of Ontarians and the broader health-care system,” a Rexall spokesperson said in the email, noting the need is especially great in rural communities and in suburban areas such as Port Credit “where care options are not as accessible.”

According to Rexall, the new specialized walk-in clinic will provide “personalized care to the community, offering immediate pharmacist treatment for minor illnesses, along with services such as chronic disease management, immunizations and injections, men’s and women’s health, point-of-care testing, travel vaccines and more.”

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In opening the new medical facility, company officials also note the “evolving role of the pharmacist and how this medical provider can help bridge the Canadian health-care accessibility gap in today’s strained industry.”

As Ontario’s health-care system faces ever-increasing pressures, as is the case Canada-wide, more walk-in clinics continue to open in Mississauga and far beyond the city’s borders.

This past April, a new pharmacy health clinic opened inside the Metro grocery store at 910 Southdown Rd., in the city’s Clarkson community.

Recent data from the Ontario College of Family Physicians found that more than 223,000 people in Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon do not have a family doctor, and that number could reach 430,000 in 2026.

Those figures are attributed to the number of family doctors expected to retire combined with a relatively small number of family medicine graduates entering the profession and the expected population growth in Ontario.