Montfort Hospital now officially a teaching hospital

Ottawa's Montfort Hospital has been officially designated a teaching hospital by the province.

"This is an historic day for Ontario's francophone communities and for Hpital Montfort," said Dr. Bernard Leduc, the hospital's president, in a news release.

"This official designation of Montfort as an academic teaching hospital stands as concrete recognition of the hard work and dedication of our educators who have devoted themselves to training the next generation of francophone and francophile health professionals throughout Ontario," he said.

Ottawa-Vanier MPP Madeleine Meilleur said the designation is "vital to ensuring the permanence of a medical teaching program available in French in the province.

"This new status is a clear signal to the Francophone community of the importance our government places on high-quality French-language services."

In less than 10 years, the hospital's teaching days have grown from 6,457 to nearly 21,000.

They're hoping to reach 34,000 teaching days by 2016, according to the news release.