Nova Scotians hopeful new medical school will relieve health-care crisis
A day after Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston announced a second medical school for the province, people around Cape Breton are still celebrating.
Many feel it could be a game-changer when it comes to health-care services in the future.
“I think it's a great announcement for Cape Breton and actually a great announcement for Nova Scotia, but especially Cape Breton,” said David MacKeigan, a member of community group Bay It Forward.
MacKeigan’s group has attracted three doctors to the area over the past couple of years.
Pre-pandemic potential physicians would be taken on a tour of the Miners Museum, a boat ride along the shoreline and jigging for mackerel — a chance to be introduced to the people here.
MacKeigan says having the school in their own backyard will help with recruiting.
“It will be much easier. We will educate some of our own doctors, and when they're working with doctors here, they can be shown what Cape Breton is all about,” he said
Houston said the new school will be focused on training students from Nova Scotia, in particular from rural areas.
“We don't train enough physicians in Canada to replace the physicians who are retiring. The largest group of physicians practicing right now in Canada are the baby boomers and they'll be retiring soon, and we need people to step in and take those positions,” said Dr. Margaret Fraser.
The goal is to graduate up to 30 new doctors a year for at least the first six years.
Cape Breton University hopes to take over the Nova Scotia Community College near the campus, which is moving to downtown Sydney.
CBU President David Dingwall said the building will be home to the school of nursing, social work, and a new primary health clinic for up to 10,000 people.
Fraser says the new facility will help the province better deal with the current health-care crisis in the years to come.
“In the future, it absolutely will because there will be people coming here who want to work in the emergency department, people coming here who want to help train the next generation of emergency physicians, and if we train physicians here, we know that there's a greater chance they'll stay here,” she said.
The new medical school plans to open no later than the fall of 2025.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Attack on prison van in France kills 2 officers, inmate escapes
Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in an attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday and an inmate escaped, officials said.
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence for 10 years under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
$1.6B parts plant for Honda electric vehicle batteries coming to Niagara Region
A Japanese company has announced it will build an approximately $1.6-billion plant in Ontario's Niagara Region that will make a key electric vehicle battery component as part of Honda's supply chain in the province.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Manitoba premier to visit areas impacted by wildfire
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew will get a close-up look at the devastation from a large wildfire burning in northern Manitoba Tuesday.
1 killed, 3 injured including toddler, after Hwy. 417 crash in Ottawa
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.