Nova Scotia universities partner to help with province's doctor shortage

Cape Breton University is partnering with Dalhousie University to create five new medical school seats this September.

“Canada as a whole has fewer medical seats per capita than anywhere else in the industrialized world,” said Dr. Margaret Fraser, a family physician in Cape Breton.

Fraser has been a family physician in Sydney, N.S., for several years.

She says she's seen a lot of colleagues come and go, but with a new pilot program announced, she's hoping more will choose to stay.

“We are still highly dependent on other countries to recruit medical professionals,” said Fraser.

The move is part of CBU's strategic health initiative on recruiting more health-care workers in rural areas, which received $5 million from the province in March.

“It is our view that Nova Scotians will respond favourably to this,” said Gordon MacInnis, the vice president of finance and operations at CBU.

There are currently 92,000 Nova Scotians without a family physician.

“For the pilot program, these students will be Dal med students. They will be in seats that would not have existed if it were not for this program,” said MacInnis.

Students in the program will also have to commit to practice family medicine in rural Nova Scotia, including anywhere in Cape Breton, for five years once their training is complete.

“There's not going to be one magic wand moment that's going to fix our health-care system, so this is one lever that we are able to pull to allow us to best serve Nova Scotians access to the health care they need,” said Nova Scotia’s Health Minister Michelle Thompson.

To be accepted into the pilot program, students will have to meet Dalhousie Medical School admission requirements and be a Nova Scotian living in a rural area, including anywhere in Cape Breton.