Doctor from U.K. claims Winnipeg MD who paid him to come here breached contract, wrongfully fired him

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/09/2025 (264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A PHYSICIAN from the U.K. is suing the Winnipeg doctor who used $700,000 of her own savings to entice him — and others — to practise here.

In a statement of claim filed in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench last month, Dr. Emeka David Onyemachi — who now practises as a family physician at Rothesay Medical Clinic — is suing the Dr. Shadi Rezazadeh Medical Corp., TruCare Medical Clinic and Walk-In and Rivergrove Medical Clinic for unlawful dismissal, breach of contract and unjust enrichment.

All of the financial damages sought are unspecified, but in the court filing Onyemachi said the unjust enrichment is for the $10,000 the province pays doctors as an incentive for them to come to Manitoba, but which he alleges was claimed and kept by TruCare.

Onyemachi said when he applied for it, Shared Health notified him by letter that it had paid Rezazadeh the money “in relation to costs she had directly paid to you to assist with your relocation.”

Onyemachi and his lawyer could not be reached for comment Monday. Rezazadeh declined to comment.

Last year, Rezazadeh told the Free Press she was dipping into her own funds in an attempt to recruit 10 doctors from the U.K. to work at TruCare Medical Clinic on McPhillips Street and Rivergrove Medical Clinic on north Main Street, both of which she owns.

She said it was costing her $70,000 apiece to recruit the doctors because, to compete against clinics in Ontario and British Columbia, she was covering the costs of plane tickets for the doctors and their families, their first month of accommodations and a vehicle and a signing bonus of $17,500 apiece.

And she said she paid an additional $40,000 to a recruitment agency and immigration lawyer.

“I’ve done this out of my own pocket. I’ve received no government help,” Rezazadeh said at the time.

After the original story ran, Rezazadeh was invited to meet with Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, who said after the meeting “(Rezazadeh’s) approach demonstrates her determination to make a difference for Manitobans. We will take time to analyze how her experience can help inform efforts throughout Manitoba to recruit physicians and make sure everyone can get the care they need.”

Onyemachi, who is originally from Nigeria and graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University in that country in 2012, completed family medicine training in the U.K. in 2020, where he practised until Rezazadeh recruited him in 2024.

He was misled, the court documents allege.

Onyemachi claims he was told he would be working at TruCare, with a “busy and substantial” patient load, but instead he was sent to Rivergrove on his first day of work on March 1, 2024, where his “ability to provide services was substantially limited.”

He claims he was told he could bump up his “financial shortfall” by working extra days at TruCare, but that would have been on top of his regular hours.

Onyemachi said six months after he began working he was sent a letter of termination because he had “jeopardized the emotional safety of the team members” by, in part, disputing how much was paid for clinical overhead and “being rude and disrespectful to staff when they were asking you to fax a prescription renewal, resulting in staff being fearful of you.”

Onyemachi said he was “wrongfully dismissed” and that the reasons are “factually inaccurate.”

None of the allegations have been proven in court and no statement of defence has been filed.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca