June 03, 2004

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 today.

"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."

The students and residents have received grants under the Medical Student/Resident Financial Assistance Program.

"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. "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 Medical Student/Resident Financial Assistance Program is one component of Manitoba’s comprehensive strategy to train, recruit and retain doctors. Other components include:

·         expanding the number of spaces in Manitoba’s medical school;

·         creating the Office of Rural and Northern Health to 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.

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Today’s announcement builds on the province’s comprehensive physician, nursing and health professional training, recruitment and retention strategy. Key elements of this ongoing strategy include:

· Bringing 115 more doctors to Manitoba than were in the province in 1999.

· Expanding medical school training spaces.

· Providing grants to medical students/residents. More than 390 years of Manitoba service have been secured from new and future doctors.

· Making it easier to license international medical graduates—qualified doctors who were trained in other countries.

· Negotiating a retention fund with the Manitoba Medical Association to address physician resource challenges. This fund is providing $10 million to help Manitoba retain doctors.

· Hiring 879 more nurses to practice in Manitoba than in 1999.

· Creating a Worklife Task Force to improve the working life of nurses in Manitoba.

· Extending an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for nurses provincewide.

· Providing $200,000 for projects that promote more flexible and innovative scheduling for nurses.

· Establishing a diploma nursing program in 2000.

· Providing financial assistance to 284 nurses for refresher courses so they can return to the workforce.

· Assisting more than 750 nurses wishing to relocate to Manitoba.

· Providing more than $155 million for medical equipment to support technologists in the health sector.

· Increasing enrolment in occupational therapy and physiotherapy educational programs to 100 since 2001.

· Expanding enrolment in the sonography program from eight to 10 spaces in 2003.

· Providing new X-ray cross-training opportunities for eight students since 2001.

· Supporting the radiation therapy sector of Manitoba’s health system by providing funds to hire more therapists and purchase state-of-the-art equipment. As a result, Manitoba has one of the lowest wait times for radiation therapy in Canada. In 1999, the average wait was 10 weeks compared to two weeks today. Urgent cases experience virtually no wait.