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.
A record number of medical students has signed up to serve in northern and rural Manitoba communities that need them the most in exchange for free medical schooling. The provincial government says it is thanks to a recently expanded doctor-recruitment initiative that is part of its plan to ensure all Manitobans have a family doctor by 2015. 'We're committed to finding new ways to connect Manitobans with a doctor in their community,' said Health Minister Theresa Oswald. 'The incredible success we've seen in the first year of the free medical school program shows us we're on the right track to recruiting more doctors to the rural and northern communities where they're needed most.' This year, over 251 undergraduate medical students and residents signed up for grants through the revamped Medical Student/Resident Financial Assistance Program in exchange for providing medical services, after graduation, in under-served northern and rural communities. Expanded Under the expanded program, grants range from $12,000 to $25,000 per year, based on the year of study, the student's specialty and where they choose to work after graduation. Students can apply for grants in each year of medical school and access a maximum of $61,000 over four years, which covers tuition and other costs associated with studying medicine, in exchange for a commitment to work for up to two and half years in communities identified as most in need of more physicians. 'Our goal is to keep the majority of our graduating physicians here to serve the health-care needs of Manitobans across the province,' said Dr. Brian Postl, dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Manitoba. 'Thanks to this expanded and innovative program, more students are choosing to stay here, take advantage of the tuition-reimbursement incentives offered by the province and practise in under-served communities after graduation.' Since the recruitment program was established in 2001, over $35 million has been given to some 1,300 students. Oswald said Manitoba has and continues to make other investments in physician training, recruitment and retention, including: expanding the Medical Student/Resident Financial Assistance Program to cover the entire cost of a student's four years of medical school, in exchange for a return-of-service agreement in communities chosen by the province; introducing a 60 per cent tuition rebate worth up to $25,000 for graduates who choose to live and work in Manitoba; introducing a northern/remote residency program to help attract more doctors to northern Manitoba; Êproviding grants of $50,000 in return for service for family doctors to return to school to undertake a third year in an advanced-skill area, such as emergency medicine or anesthesiology; expanding medical school spaces to 110 from 70, creating Manitoba's largest medical school class on record; and Êintroducing the Medical Licensure Program for International Medical Graduates in 2001 to help foreign doctors receive conditional registration. _ Compiled from a Government of Manitoba news release
