The Logan Lake ER will be closed Friday and next Friday unless a replacement physician can step in.

Interior Health advised residents on Thursday that the emergency room at Logan Lake Health Centre will be closed because the town’s physician is unavailable.

Philip Snyman, the IHA’s community integration health services administrator for Logan Lake, Chase, Clinton and Kamloops downtown health centre, said the doctor needs time off for personal reasons.

A fill-in physician will take over when this happens, but no one is available this time, Snyman said Thursday. Efforts to find a substitute will continue and, if a doctor is found, the ER will open.

“In most cases, we’ve been able to send someone to cover,” he said, adding closures like this are rare.

Logan Lake Mayor Marlon Dosch didn’t learn his ER would be closed until the IHA emailed out a press release. He told The Daily News the closure is concerning.

But, given that his community only has one doctor and two nurses, he isn’t sure what else can be done.

“It happens once in a while. It’s not like it’s an epidemic or anything,” he said. “It’s understandable.”

If an emergency happens, the response will be the same as any after-hours call and patients will be diverted to Kamloops or Merritt, said Snyman.

The Logan Lake ER is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. until noon.