I wonder where they will take up a practice, hopefully here in PG.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine actually began its foundation a year earlier than UNBC. They ended up creating a new Faculty of Medicine rather than joining with one of the existing Faculties in Ontario. Thus it took a year longer to establish, but they are a separate institute free to set their own direction.

There is an interesting connection to UNBC. Dr. Fred Gilbert was the founding Dean of Environmental Studies at UNBC. He is on he Board of Directors for the Ontraio program.

http://www.nosm.ca

We are so fortunate to have this facility at UNBC. Money well spent, imho.
metalman.

Congratualtions to them all!
This a great thing for northern B.C.!
Now,if we could only talk a few of them into staying in the north?

Does anyone know how many of the 70 stayed in the north?

There is limited residency's available in the north, so many do leave to finish off their required residency, and still a bit too early to know for sure how many do come back. In the mean time though we do benefit from them in training and providing service at the hospital.

Duffer. Dont hold your breath waiting for information on how many stay in the North to Practice. Firstly those who come from other areas such as the Okanogan, or Vancouver etc; will probably take their residency in those areas. Some have to go as far afield as Ontario to take their residency, so after two years it is a pretty good possibility that they would not return to Prince George. Hopefully the six from Prince George can find a residency here, but that is unlikey because the 1st and 2nd year graduates would still be here. Even if they do, there is no gaurantee they will stay here.

So at the end of the day is the **Train them in the North and they will stay in the North** concept really working.

To my knowledge there has never been an admission of a failed project in the City of Prince George, it seems everything we do is a success. So if one or two doctors stay here, some would say that it was certainly worth the effort.

1. Huge Airport runway, sitting empty.

2. CN Intermodal Terminal. Building basically empty for the last two years.

3. Pr George Office opened in Vancouver to direct business and tourist to Prince George. Closed down because of lack of interest.

4. Horizen Air. Direct service to Seattle. Shut down because of lack of interest.

5. Cougers franchise. After the inital interest, has now been reduced to a mere average of 2000 actual fans per game. This facility costs us $600,000.00 per year to operate, a large portion of which goes toward the Owners of the franchise, and therefore could be construed as a subisidy.

6. Charles Jago Northern Sports Centre, which was to be revenue neutral, costs taxpayers and the University approx $600,000.00 per year to operate, and the facility is under utilized.

7. The Civic Centre which was to attract Conventions from all over the world, sits empty for most of the year, and costs big money to operate.

8. The rarely used Arts Centre

These were all considered successes at one time, so Im sure that the Medical Program is a screaming success, however we havent yet seen any numbers.

Future great successes would be the Multi Million Dollar police station. The Multi Million Dollar Co-Generation Plant, The Multi Million Dollar Performing Arts Centre.,

Water and sewer lines in the older part of the City are starting to bust, and the cost of repairing them is in the area of a $137 Million, and huge amounts of money are needed for our roads, however we have no money available for these necessary services, because we are too busy spending all our money on our successes.

I am sorry, but waht the hell does the medical program have to do with all that other sh*******t you continuously raise Palopu?

The medical program is a success for the following reason:

1. and foremost, BC is finally training closer to the number of doctors that the province actually requires to sustain its needs. I think that with the UNBC, the UVIC and the UBC Okanogan programs we are getting closer but are likely still not there.

These people that are just now graduating are not yet ready to open an office and hang up their shingles. The are taking their residency in one of several teaching hospitals in remote areas. I know one fellow who is doing one of his undergraduate clinics in Inuvik this summer.

If we were to take all those who graduate from UNBC in PG, we would soon have far too many doctors. We have a dental Hygiene program here and they do not all end u[p here. Neither do the welders, nor the plumbers, nor the MBAs. THAT is simply not the way the system works.

We should be happy that some people are starting to realize that education is a service industry and service industries are still growth industries. Let us train as many advanced program students here and the better off we will be.

Should be bloody easy to understand.

Gus. Are you for real?. Do you ever actually listen or look into what goes on in this Province???

1.The training of Doctors at UNBC is a concept, that had the idea that if they trained in the North they would stay in the North. That is and was the concept. Not mine. Thiers.

2. The shortage of Doctors in BC has nothing to do with our ability to train them. The fact of the matter is, the BC Medical association will only allow so many Doctors to practice in BC. Of the total that graduate most of them prefer to work in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, or the Okanogan.

A number of years ago the Province tried to implement a system that would force Doctors to work in remote areas for a few years, and they were threatened with Court Action because this was seen to be a contravention of our (their) rights.

3. A few years ago in an interview on BCTV or CBC the head of the BC Medical Association was asked what was being done about the shortage of Doctors in BC. He stated that people should get used to being short of Doctors because Doctors and the Association had no intention of training so many doctors in the Province that no one would make any money. In other words in is finiancially benificial for doctors to have a shortage.

4. UNBC and the Medical Program has been built and instituted more for Political Purposes that for actual need. You will note that the last graduating class had only 6 people from this area. It doesnt take a genius to figure out that it would be a hell of a lot cheaper, and more efficient to have these people take their training at UBC rather than UNBC. Where did the other 17 graduate come from. I suspect a large part of them came from the lower mainland. (under protest)

5. I have talked to people whose kids have come to PG from Vancouver to take their training and I can tell you that they are not impressed with this ;program. They would much sooner go to UBC.

When you look at this program in terms of Politics and Income for Doctors, you can begin to understand what is really going on here. To suggest that these students couldnt get full training at UBC is ludicrous, of course they could.

As far as I know they do their first year at UBC and when they graduate they get their doctorate from UBC.

Why is it necessary to put in hairbrained concepts to get people to come to UNBC. Is it because they would not come otherwise.

When will people wake up and smell the flowers. UNBC has approx 2500 FTE students. It has not had a significant increase in students in the last five or more years,. It does not expect to get any huge increases in the next 10 years. (Where the hell would they come from) There are almost more full time employees at UNBC than there are full time students.

So is it a success in the true meaning of the word. NO it is not. Is it a nice benefit to have in this one horse town, so that local merchants can make some money, and Government workers can get a good job and good wages working here. YES. :Problem is it costs aprox $100 Million per year and I suggest that we are not getting good value for our dollars, however I sure you will be able to show otherwise.

The Medical Program is included in the other Success's I listed because it is only a psuedo success, it is not a success in the true meaning of the word.

I have a cousin in this graduating class... not sure if she is planning to stay here though. Her husband who is also a doctor isn't sure about staying... his family is from Quebec, and so not sure how that will work out once her schooling is done?