A total of 16 students completed the intensive 24-month program and 15 were at yesterday's ceremony to receive their diplomas before family and friends in CNC's atrium.

Program Coordinator, Karen Bowers, says 14 of the new lab techs actually found employment before graduation at hospitals and labs in Prince George and smaller communities, such as Terrace.

"Most lab technologists are retiring and there is an impending huge shortage," says Bowers.  She credits the provincial government with having the foresight to fund this program and says since most of the students were from rural and northern B.C., that's where they're now working...in those smaller communities.

"Obtaining and starting the Medical Laboratory Technology Sciences program has been a significant achievement for College of New Caledonia and our partners," says the Dean of CNC's School of Health Sciences, Patricia Covington.

"I am very proud of what the program and everyone associated with it has achieved in just over two years, including full accreditation by (the) Canadian Medical Association."

Covington says the program will be producing competent grads to meet the healthcare needs of the North, and province, for many years to come.