Rural Medicine

[Beth]

Does anyone know if the Nova Scotia government has a program that pays for part of medical school if the student agrees to work in an underserviced or rural area once they graduate. I know that there is this type of program in Ontario and I wanted to know if Nova Scotia had anything similar. Also, to anyone who goes to Dalhousie, is rural medicine incorporated into your program? Do you do part of your clerkship in a rural area? Thanks for all of the information!!

[DalHopeful]

From what I've heard, NS does not have such a program. I believe that they were thinking about it a few years ago, but the deal was different than people think. First there would be 5-6 seats reserved for people who wanted to do rural medicine, their tuition would be completely covered. HOwever, the rest of the class would have to pay the FULL tuition (ie: no government support). No good.

And how could you guarantee people were being genuine?

Thats what I heard anyway..:)

[UWOMED2005]

My memory from when I lived in NS back in 2000/01 was that they were in fact working on such a plan - with compensation at $8,000/year for a certain amount of service in a rural area of NS. Can any of the Dal moderators confirm?

[MD2006]

Hey guys, there aren't any programs while you are in school. However, they do offer incentives once you are able to practice if you work in under serviced areas, here's the link....

www.gov.ns.ca/heal/physic...Assistance (http://www.gov.ns.ca/heal/physicians/benefits.htm#Debt%20Assistance)

You also get the chance at Dal (if you choose to) to do a lot of your clerkship rotations in rural areas in NS, PEI, and NB :)

[Beth]

Thank you for the information :)