BC offers monetary incentives to entice graduates to work as family physicians

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“This demonstrates our willingness to act quickly to attract future doctors to family medicine,” Dix said.

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June 21, 2022 • 13 hours ago • 3 minutes reading • 17 comments Adrian Dix, Minister of Health of British Columbia. Photo by Hermann Tind / BC / PNG Government

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About 175 new family practitioners are offered lucrative contracts, loan forgiveness and signing bonuses of $ 25,000 if they join by September to work as family doctors in British Columbia.

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“I think people want action, and that’s action,” British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix said Monday.

At a time when one in five British Colombians, or nearly a million, say they don’t have a family doctor, Dix said the province is urgently stepping up to give new doctors contracts that many want to stay and work in.

“This demonstrates our willingness to act quickly to attract future doctors to family medicine,” Dix said.

Interested residents who sign a full-time contract will immediately receive a $ 295,457 “new internship” contract for the first year – what was previously the second-year rate.

The new family doctors will also receive a $ 25,000 signing bonus, as well as a phased plan for debt relief for medical education – up to $ 50,000 for the first year and up to $ 20,000 for debt forgiveness for medical education for each year from two to five Dix called debt forgiveness one of the most important incentives.

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“We wanted to encourage them as much as possible to consider a full-service family practice, so we made this offer,” Dix said.

The new contracts do not solve every problem in the British Columbia health system in terms of family practice, but they solve some of the main problems for new doctors in time, Dix said.

“We wanted to make a firm statement to family doctors that this will be an area that sees change, and we want them to see that change when they make their decision,” Dix said.

Incentives are available to Canadian and international medical graduates – both those who complete the two-year residency program in 2022 this summer and those who have completed the last 12 months.

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After graduating from medical school, people are combined with residency programs. The University of British Columbia’s residency program produces about 400 local graduates a year – about 175 in a two-year program are certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada as family physicians, and the rest in multi-year programs for specialties certified by the Royal College of Physicians. surgeons in Canada, such as surgeons, dermatologists or psychiatrists.

The 175 graduating families were sent an invitation to a meeting of the Ministry of Health, at which incentives were offered on June 15. About 40 students, some of whom remain days after graduation, attended the meeting.

Saanic’s family doctor, Dr. Jennifer Lush, said the graduates and BC doctors did not expect the contract offer.

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“This contract was concluded without consultation. The doctors at BC were completely blinded by this. “

International alumni were not included in the original proposal, something Lush called “discriminatory”, but since then the Ministry of Health has taken into account the feedback from the meeting and foreign graduates are already eligible.

The contract offer has not yet been sent through BC doctors and BC resident doctors

“They are trying to force new graduates to sign these contracts,” Lush said. “I think it’s a PR move, don’t I?” Adrian Dix just wanted to be able to say that he had signed contracts with so many new doctors.

It is more typical and sustainable for new graduates to try what is called locum positions – short-term positions in various clinical practices covering permanent GPs for vacations or assisting with them – before settling in the place and type of practice that it suits them best, Lush said.

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“It would be much wiser to give these new graduates time to experience in the real world before forcing them to sign a contract,” Lush said.

The Ministry of Health continues to carry out “crisis management”, Lush said. “They continue to throw away these random solutions for band-aids.”

Harry Gray, executive director of Resident Doctors at BC, which negotiates collective agreements for residents, said there are many options for new diplomas, including Turkish delights or contracts or service fees, but the model of a doctor who takes on independent family practice is lacking.

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