BY JAY STRUTH
Killarney will welcome two new physicians to town in the fall.
Dr. Shamsudeen Usman and his wife, Dr. Olamide Usman, will be moving to town in the summer, in time for their six-year-old daughter Heebatullah to start Grade 2 at Killarney School in September.
The family was down at the start of December to tour the Tri-Lake Health Centre and Killarney School, and check out other parts of town, including local real estate.
They’d like to find a place on Killarney Lake, if possible, with several bedrooms to accommodate their big family that likes to come and visit them.
“I think the main thing that we’re actually looking for is this community feeling that we had,” said Olamide. “We enjoyed that in Brandon, and we know that in a smaller community it will be even better. So we look forward to that.”
“Yes, that’s how we felt in Brandon,” agreed Shamsudeen. “It’s that feeling of belonging to somewhere. In Ontario we didn’t have that. Everybody just had busy lives. But in Brandon we had that same sort of community belonging. And that’s how it was in Nigeria. If you grew up in a place, you felt like this is your place.”
They were both born in Nigeria, and the couple actually got married while they were in med school there.
“People thought we were crazy (getting married in med school),” laughed Shamsudeen. “But it worked well, and then we both practiced as GPs in Nigeria. We moved to Canada in 2022, and lived in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). From there we came to Brandon, and from Brandon to Winnipeg, and now we’re looking forward to coming to Killarney.”
The Usmans are both part of the Medical Licensure Program for International Medical Graduates (MLPIMG) through the University of Manitoba. This is a highly competitive program that Manitoba is well known for. Hundreds and hundreds of applications are submitted each year.
“The province does the first round of interviews, choosing sixty candidates,” explained Tamara Kemp-Boulet, Physician Recruitment and Retention Coordinator for Prairie Mountain Health (PMH). “These sixty candidates are then interviewed by four health authorities: PMH, Northern Health Region, Southern Health Sante Sud, and Interlake Eastern Region, with each health authority picking seven to eight candidates to sponsor.”
A total of 30 candidates are accepted into the program, and the fact that the Usmans both got in at the same time is both surprising and incredibly exciting.
“The MLPIMG program is just such a competitive program,” said Kemp-Boulet. “And they both got in on their first try, together. This doesn’t happen.”
This year PMH is getting seven doctors from the program. Two are coming to Killarney, two to Minnedosa, one to St. Rose, one to Russell, and one is going to do a combination of Shoal Lake and Rossburn.
The Usmans started the program in July 2025 and will complete it on June 30, 2026.
“They will start their practices in Killarney around September 2026,” said Kemp-Boulet. “They will have a Return of Service to PMH for four years, but we hope that they will grow roots in the community and consider Killarney their home for long-term.”
NEW DOCS AND DAUGHTER – Dr. Olamide Usman (left) and Dr. Shamsudeen Usman (right) and their daughter, Heebatullah, look forward to making Killarney their new home this summer.
WELCOMING NEW DOCTOR TEAM – From left: Dr. Jim Heptinstall; Shawn Lockhart, Care Team Manager, PMH; Dr. Olamide Usman; Heebatullah Usman; Dr. Shamsudeen Usman; Tamara Kemp-Boulet, Physician Recruitment and Retention Coordinator, PMH; and Jaret Box, LPN, Manager Health Services Long Term Care, PMH. The group gathered for a nice lunch on December 2 in Tri-Lake Health Centre’s multipurpose room, before the Usman family headed out for the rest of their busy day in Killarney.