I’ve always heard that British Columbia is a great place, and visiting Vancouver is near the top of my life’s to-do list.
As much as I admire B.C. and Canada in general, however, it turns out that they are suffering from a shortage of doctors! And perhaps most worrisome of all, 44% percent of medical specialists in B.C. are at least 50 years old! That means in another ten or twenty years they will be retiring!
In fact, some 7,000 people attended a rally in Prince George to protest the declining state of health care in 2002! That’s rather odd because I rarely hear about Canadians taking to the streets, so perhaps people are really upset
In 2003, the B.C. government worked with the University of British Columbia to design an education program that would allow the province’s universities to expand their health care training. The University of Northern British Columbia, the University of Victoria, and others quickly came on board.
Since the program’s establishment in 2004, it has graduated over 1,600 M.D.s! Nearly 1,200 of these MDs are currently in practice, and 77 percent of them are practicing in British Columbia! Why? It turns out that doctors often prefer to stay in the areas they train in!
Now the rapid increase in trainees is leading to record breaking classes of graduating health care professionals! More and more people are entering health care in B.C. and services will most likely improve in the years to come!
This infographic by UBC is filled with tons more information, so check it out!
