Twelve more medical school hopefuls will soon receive acceptance letters from the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at The University of Western Ontario, reinforcing a commitment made earlier this year by the provincial government.
As promised in the provincial budget, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care David Caplan announced Western will receive funding for an additional 24 first-year spaces at Schulich’s London and Windsor campuses over the next two years. Caplan emphasized the government’s commitment during a visit to Schulich on Thursday, May 21.
Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care David Caplan
“The investment we are making in you is actually an investment in us,” says Caplan, adding the increased number of medical students will help address the provincial physician shortage.
This year, six new spaces will be created at the London campus and four new spaces will be added in 2010-11. At Schulich’s satellite campus in Windsor, six spaces have opened up for 2009-10 and eight in 2010-11.
Although the majority of acceptance letters were mailed last week, a new set of letters will be sent to the top 12 students on the waiting list to make up the 2009-10 complement.
Western will also receive $4.2 million to complete the third floor of the University of Windsor’s Medical Education Building.
“Many people talk about the deficit of doctors in this province,” says Khalil Ramal, MPP for London-Fanshawe. “What today’s announcement means is more access to health care.”
When Schulich Dean Carol Herbert took on the leadership position in 1999, the medical school had 96 first-year students. With the added government support, there will be 171 students beginning in 2010.
“That is almost a doubling in growth,” she says.
As well, the number of students graduating from the program and choosing to study family medicine is on the rise. At last week’s convocation, nearly half of the graduating class has chosen to pursue a career as a family doctor.
“We hope that by giving them (students) an excellent experience in London and in Windsor that we will keep a number of these individuals after their training and they will open up a practice in our region,” says Herbert.
Including those at Western, the provincial government is creating 100 new medical school spaces over the next three years at McMaster University, the University of Toronto, Northern Ontario School of Medicine and the University of Ottawa.
To support the medical schools’ growth, the provincial government is providing $35 million during this time for construction, expansion of classrooms, buying training equipment and library resources, and improving video conferencing and webcasting between sites.