Ottawa expands student loan forgiveness to get, keep doctors, nurses in small communities

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This article was published 30/03/2023 (893 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government is hoping forgiving part of their student loans will encourage more doctors and nurses to work and practice in rural communities.

But officials at both Doctors Manitoba and the University of Manitoba’s medical school said student loans — and salaries — are only pieces of a larger puzzle that needs to be put together.

The Liberal government announced Tuesday it will spend $45.9 million during the next four years, and another $11.7 million annually after that, to expand a program that offers Canada Student Loan forgiveness for doctors and nurses who practise in communities across the country with populations smaller than 30,000 to deal with the shortage of health professionals.

Doctors would qualify for up to $60,000 in forgiveness, and nurses could get as much as $30,000. More details will be announced through the year.

Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal, the Liberal MP in Saint Boniface-Saint vital, said both rural Manitoba and northern areas of the province and country will benefit from the program.

“This is a huge issue in the northern part of Canada and in rural areas,” Vandal said. “I think it is a significant initiative. There has been some success on it and that is why we are continuing to assist.”

But Dr. Candace Bradshaw, president of Doctors Manitoba, said while the expanded program is welcome, even more help is needed to keep physicians in rural communities.

“We welcome funds that bring more resources to our rural and northern colleagues, but Manitoba is facing one of the largest doctor shortages in the nation, and an aggressive and targeted approach is required,” Bradshaw said.

A report released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information last November said Manitoba’s shortage worsened by an additional 13 per cent during the previous year. At that point more than 400 doctors were needed to reach the national average of 246 physicians per 100,000 residents.

The report also noted Manitoba’s 217 physicians per 100,000 people is one of the smallest per capita ratios in the country.

“We have been working with our provincial government on funding to sustain the physicians we have now, and to recruit… in most-needed areas of our province, but progress has been slow,” Bradshaw said.

”I hope resources from (this week’s) federal budget as well as from the bilateral agreements with the federal government yield rapid results, because we do not have a second to waste.”

Dr. Aaron Chiu, an associate dean at the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine, said a survey of the school’s 2022 class found that only 8.7 per cent of medical students would be graduating with no student debt.

Chiu said 16 per cent had debt of $200,000 or more from medical school and that figure didn’t account for any additional undergraduate or consumer debt.

On average, the university’s medical students graduate with a median of $75,000 in debt, which is less than the national median of $100,000.

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“It is frightening how much debt people have going through school to get a medical degree,” he said, adding his role at the university is to co-ordinate bursaries and scholarships and help with the school’s push to graduate more students from rural and remote areas and from Indigenous, immigrant and refugee communities.

But Chiu said it doesn’t mean that students who receive bursaries leave university debt-free.

“There were 256 students over all four years of the program who applied for bursaries and they had an annual deficit of $4.7 million,” he said. “That’s what they were short on to finance their year, including tuition, housing and food.

“Physicians (after university) aren’t just attracted by money. Oftentimes setting up in a solo position, or a very undermanned group practice, burns out physicians more… every little bit will help, but it won’t solve the problem on its own.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

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