The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
More than 335 Manitoba medical students have received financial support for their education in return for a promise to provide physician services in the province, Health Minister Dave Chomiak announced yesterday. "The grant program is now in its fourth year and Manitobans will see the benefits with more than 390 years of service committed by trained doctors," said Chomiak. "Students and residents participating in this program will be a great addition to the increasing number of doctors providing service throughout Manitoba." "Since we were elected, our government has worked tirelessly to make it more attractive for doctors, nurses, health professionals and support workers to provide care in Manitoba," the minister said. See 'Future' P.# Con't from P.# "We respect the efforts of these people to provide front line care and recognize true health reform begins with their outstanding work." Introduced in May 2001, the program provides grants to future doctors in exchange for a return-of-service commitment. For each grant a medical student receives, the recipient must commit to one year of work in Manitoba. Some grants require graduates to practice in rural areas. This year's grant allocation brings the total number of grants approved since the introduction of the program to more than 390. Of the 147 grants approved for 2003: 76 went to specialists, including three students of emergency medicine who will begin working in the province later this year; and 15 were awarded to residents in family medicine. The total cost of the 2003 allocation of grants is approximately $2.6 million. Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons statistics show the number of doctors licensed in Manitoba has increased every year since 1999. Between 1999 and 2003 there was an increase of more than 115 doctors. The program is one component of Manitoba's strategy to train, recruit and retain doctors. Other components include: expanding the number of spaces in Manitoba's medical school; increase the number of rural and northern students applying for medical school and recruit more doctors for rural and Northern Manitoba; recruiting of more specialists for Manitoba through a special recruitment and retention fund; and establishing a Family Doctor Connection Hotline which connects patients with doctors and which was recently expanded to include rural areas.
