The Government of Alberta has announced funding that would allow for the potential creation of a regional health professions training centre at the University of Lethbridge. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko/LethbridgeNewsNOW

University of Lethbridge to explore creation of doctor training centre

Jan 26, 2023 | 11:02 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Government of Alberta has announced funding to potentially create new doctor training programs at two post-secondary schools.

Up to $1 million will be spent to allow the University of Lethbridge (U of L) and Northwestern Polytechnic in Grande Prairie to look into how they can partner with the Universities of Calgary and Alberta to provide new programming opportunities for physicians.

Officials will develop detailed plans that would allow for the creation of new regional health professions training centres.

Minister of Advanced Education Demetrios Nicholaides says the goal is to allow people in the smaller southern and northern communities to complete their entire medical degrees closer to home.

His hope is that this will help to address the shortage of family physicians in many communities across Alberta.

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“It is critical and essential that we do get these training opportunities out to more communities, and in particular, out into the Lethbridge and Grande Prairie areas, to help create more opportunities for prospective physicians and students to be able to access these programs right in their back yard,” says Nicholaides.

The minister adds, “Examples from other jurisdictions show that this approach can be very effective, especially in other communities in rural regions, to help individuals stay in those areas and in those communities and practice in the same areas where they received their medical education.”

The University of Calgary and University of Alberta (U of A) are currently the province’s only medical schools.

Right now, students at the U of L can take a pre-professional medicine program that sees them complete their undergraduate studies in Lethbridge and then transfer to the U of A for the remainder of their studies. The U of L also offers a Bachelor of Nursing program.

Lethbridge is one of many communities that has been struggling to attract and retain enough family physicians in recent years.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) is currently working to bring 17 international doctors to the city, a few of whom have already begun their practices.

The Chinook Primary Care Network (CPCN) said in a presentation to Lethbridge City Council in December 2021 that nearly one-quarter of people in the Lethbridge area, or 45,733 residents, did not have access to a family physician.

The possibility of an academic teaching clinic for doctors is something the City of Lethbridge has been advocating for over the last year. The city has also been running a marketing campaign, aimed at showing doctors why Lethbridge would be a good city to move to.