Nova Scotia ponies up first 2 years of operational costs for CBU's new med school

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston hasannounced operational funding for the first two years of the new medical school that's under construction at Cape Breton University.

The province is providing $11.6 million over two years, with plans to figure out longer-term funding after the school has been open for a year.

It is slated to open next year and Houston said graduating doctors who will work in rural areas will help the provincial government achieve its top priority.

"I'm so impressed with the progress towards the fall of 2025," the premier said Tuesday in Sydney. "This is a really important pillar in the overall fix to health care in the province that puts us in a good place for the long term."

The government also announced $1.5 million to support five additional medical students at Dalhousie University starting this year, bringing the total to 30 seats aimed at eventually graduating family physicians in rural Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton, Mi'kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities.

The seats include a return-of-service agreement that requires the doctors to work in rural Nova Scotia for several years after graduation.

Creating a new medical school in Cape Breton,under Dalhousie's guidance, is one of the province's strategies to find primary care for thegrowing number of Nova Scotians without a family doctor.

The province is providing the $58.9 million in capital funding to build the new medical sciences building at CBU, plus a collaborative care clinic for up to 10,000 patients and an expanded health and counselling centre.

CBU president David Dingwall said construction is on schedule and the operational funding is a key piece that will ensure the medical school can open on time.

"You can't reach out to someone and say, 'Hey, will you come and teach at the med school?' if you don't have the money to do it," said Dingwall, adding that the time is right to secure operational funding.

"With the med school progressing so well in terms of the capital side, it just made a lot of sense."

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