Second medical school campus on track to open in Nova Scotia in 2025

A second medical school campus is on track to open in Nova Scotia next year, with 30 seats for first-year medical students.

According to a Tuesday news release from the province, the new facility will open in the fall of 2025, with a focus on practising in rural Nova Scotian communities.

On Tuesday, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston announced nearly $12-million for operational costs at the new medical school campus for the next two years. The province will also fund five additional medical school seats at Dalhousie starting this fall.

As of April 1, Nova Scotia Health says there were more than 157,000 people on the province's "Need a Family Practice Registry."

“We’re moving fast to address the needs of Nova Scotians, and we’ve made a lot of progress in just one year to deliver on our promise to fix health care,” said Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston in the news release.

“A second medical school campus will make a big difference in improving access to care with more doctors for all Nova Scotians, and especially for those in rural parts of the province.”

The province says a new medical sciences building will be the cornerstone of the Cape Breton medical campus, housing educational and research space to train the next generation of family doctors.

Their education will include special training in rural health needs such as aging, frailty and disease prevention, as well as Indigenous health and African Nova Scotia health.

The province says CBU's health and counselling centre will become a key clinical training facility and its expansion will address the increased demand for health care among students.

The new state-of-the-art campus for CBU was announced by the province in March 2023.

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