An injection of nearly $800,000 will allow the University of Ottawa to train more family physicians. Jim Watson, Minister of Consumer and Business Services, and MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean, made the announcement at the Faculty of Medicine earlier this month.
The initiative will enable the University of Ottawa to add 26 new first-year family medicine residency positions by 2006. This represents a 45 per cent increase over the 58 positions currently available.
Overall, the government is investing $10 million in Ontario’s five medical schools to create 141 new family medicine residencies by 2006. This will result in 337 more family doctors ready to practice by 2008.
“The backbone of our system is the family physician,” said Dr. Nick Busing, chair of the Department of Family Medicine, who welcomed the announcement from the province. “An active comprehensive-care family doctor can look after 1,500 patients.” Therefore, adding 26 residency positions could potentially serve 39,000 more patients. Currently, an estimated one million Ontarians are without family doctors.
The efforts to increase the number of international medical graduates (IMG) being trained for practice in Ontario are also bearing fruit. The University of Ottawa has been preparing two to four IMGs on a yearly basis, but expects to train 26 over the next two years.
The number of francophone residencies at the Montfort Hospital will also double from six to twelve.
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