The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is being looked to as being important to bring more doctors to the Rainy River District.
Local officials say of the graduates coming out of the school, only 6 to 8 per cent will practice in small, rural areas.
The Rainy River district does attract students to learn with guidance from local doctors. There are currently two third-year learners who will continue their studies here until April.
The district has also welcomed first and fourth-year learners to the area’s clinics and hospitals in the past, but few have returned to set up practice.
Emo township councillor Lincoln Dunn, who sits on Emo’s physician recruitment and retention committee, would like to see an incentive program that directs more NOSM students to the district.
“It’s critical that they look at some kind of commitments in return for tuition costs or some kind of program like that,” says Dunn.
A recent million-dollar donation allowed NOSM to establish a scholarship program for women in northern Ontario who are black, Indigenous or People of Colour and interested in attending the school.
There is also support in the district to have more immigrant medical graduates (IMG).
Recruiter Todd Hamilton says a relaxing of some of the rules would be a benefit.
“Getting those international medical grads licensed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario can be very challenging. So challenging that the doctor that’s not trained in Ontario just says, “forget it. I’ll go to Alberta, or I’ll go to another province,” says Hamilton.
Hamilton says he has a couple of IMGs on his contact list, one who is currently training in the United States and would like to practice in Canada.
The last immigrant medical graduate that practiced in the Rainy River District left after two years after failing to secure an unrestricted license to avoid continual supervision and other restrictions.
The district’s recruitment and retention committee is advertising for family physicians in Emo and Fort Frances and a general surgeon in Fort Frances.
It was previously reported that the area is short eight physicians, four in Fort Frances, two in Emo and two in Rainy River.
