Four New Doctors in the New Year
Four communities in the province will welcome new doctors in the new year.
"We are currently finalizing four-year contracts with four new family doctors under the very successful Clinician Assessment for Practice Program," said Health Minister Maureen MacDonald, today, Dec. 17.
"These doctors will be located in Annapolis Royal, Shelburne, New Glasgow and Guysborough and will begin seeing patients as early as January."
These four new doctors are in addition to the two doctors who began their practices in Pictou and Sherbrooke in January 2009 and another who just began her practice in Yarmouth in November.
The Clinician Assessment for Practice Program assesses the clinical skills of International Medical Graduate physicians who want to become licensed in Nova Scotia. Successful candidates are then eligible to apply for a defined licence to practice medicine under the guidance of an experienced physician mentor. This program is a collaborative effort between the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia, the district health authorities and the Department of Health.
According to the latest Canadian Institute for Health Information report released in November, Nova Scotia continues to have the highest number of doctors per capita in Canada than any other province. But there are still challenges with the distribution of those doctors. The area around metro Halifax for example, has a much higher proportion of doctors per population as compared with the more rural areas of the province.
The Department of Health continues to collaborate with the district health authorities and other partners on a number of initiatives to increase the number of doctors practicing in rural areas.
"We've introduced a number of very successful programs over the past few years from relocation allowances to site visits and debt assistance programs and the Clinician Assessment for Practice Program, all aimed at getting more doctors into the areas that need them most," said Ms. MacDonald.
"It's great to maintain our number one ranking again this year for having the most doctors, but we must continue to focus on getting these doctors into our rural communities."
Since it began in 2005 the Clinician Assessment for Practice Program has brought more than 30 new physicians to rural Nova Scotia.