Northern Ontario School of Medicine says it's up to the challenge of addressing physician shortage
CBC
Northern Ontario needs more than 300 new physicians to meet demand in the region, says the Ontario Medical Association.
In a joint news conference Monday with members of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), the OMA made 12 recommendations meant to address northern challenges and service gaps.
Key priorities include addressing the doctor shortage and providing more support for physicians in underserved areas.
Dr. Sarita Verma, NOSM's dean and chief executive officer, welcomed the recommendations, as they align with the school's mandate to train physicians who work in northern Ontario communities.
She said addressing the doctor shortage would be a big task, but she and the school are up to the challenge.
"That would be five graduating classes of the NOSM class," Verma said, referring to the over 300 physicians needed in the north. "We don't have that capacity right away, but in the long game we will have to be able to expand the medical school."
Since it was founded in 2005, Verma said, NOSM has graduated more than 800 physicians. Many of them have remained in northern Ontario, where they have practised as family physicians or specialists.
Dr. Sarah Newberry, NOSM's assistant dean of physician workforce strategy and a family physician in the community of Marathon, said the situation is dire in smaller municipalities.
"We can't actually afford to lose any physicians from the north now."
So it's important to provide them "with the supports that they need — both clinical incentives and also supports to do the work that they need to do, the mental health and addiction supports. We need to respond to the needs of clinicians now so that they'll stay," Newberry added.
OMA president Dr. Adam Kassam said 89 per cent of people in northeastern Ontario, and 84 per cent of those in northwestern Ontario, have a family doctor. That is well below the provincial average, he said.
Life expectancy in northern Ontario is also between 2.5 and 2.9 years lower than the average for the province.
In addition to its 12 recommendations for northern Ontario, the OMA has made five recommendations to improve health care in the province overall:
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.