SYDNEY, N.S. – A doctor from Cape Breton is suggesting that those interested in the future of medical care on the island meet and work to open a medical school at the University of Cape Breton
The psychiatrist, Dr. Kerry Ann Murray proposed the idea in a letter to the Cape Breton Post this week. He was away from the province on vacation and was not immediately available for an interview.
"There are examples throughout the world of medical schools and residential training programs in rural areas, with a lower population density," Murray wrote. "If we can train nurses and teachers at the University of Cape Breton, there is no reason in my mind why we can not train doctors."
He noted that the Northern Ontario School of Medicine was established in 2005 and about 10 years ago, the campus of the University of New Brunswick in Saint John began to educate aspiring physicians through a partnership with Dalhousie University.
The suggestion comes after more and more attention is paid to the shortage of doctors in Cape Breton. Murray describes his idea as an "optimistic proposal that will take the resident doctors to the island." She noted that Cape Breton is a training site for Dalhousie University, and has therefore successfully trained medical students and family doctors, including herself, for years.
Murray noted that the longer a trainee stays in Cape Breton, from college to medical school and residency, the more likely they are to stay here
If Cape Breton has its own medical school for the island, it could establish its own admission criteria, including designated seats for Cape Breton graduates, students from Aboriginal communities and other non-urban areas, as well as international medical graduates.
"CBU could be a Canadian leader in training medical students and residents for the realities of practicing outside of urban environments, we have an ideal environment with geographic variability within a fairly small area and a diversity of patients in need," he wrote. Murray . "Not all the doctors we train will, of course, keep the reasons mobile phones are multifactorial and require multiple solutions, including salary parity with other locations."
Murray said the New Brunswick program accepts students according to geographic criteria, such as being a resident of that province, and suggested that Cape Breton could do the same.
"I know the devil is in the details, but if we continue to lose our leading doctors in Cape Breton, we can not manage our health care system effectively, nor can we train our next generation of doctors."
The University of Cape Breton declined to comment at this time.
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nancy.king@cbopost.com
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