CITYnews halifax / Nova Scotia continues to draw doctors to the province: N.S. Health

CITYnews halifax / By Steve Gow

The province has continued to recruit doctors, marking a 10 per cent bump in numbers over the past year.

According to Nova Scotia Health, the province welcomed 278 new physicians over the past year. In a release, the agency says that meant 199 new doctors started work when taking into account starts and departures.

That means a net gain of a dozen more physicians came to Nova Scotia than the previous year.

Figures show that family doctors make up 111 of those recruits, representing a nearly 25 per cent increase over last year and 167 are specialists, including 12 who started work at the IWK Health Centre.

Nova Scotia Health considers Dalhousie Medical School as a key factor for recruitment, with a total of 79 family medicine residents graduating between April 2025 and March 2026.

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Of those, the agency says more than half were retained in the province, most securing positions or seeking a local practice.

“Year over year, more doctors than ever are choosing Nova Scotia,” says Premier Tim Houston in the release. “A clear sign that our efforts to showcase Nova Scotia as an attractive place to live, work and raise a family are working.”

Thousands still on family doctor waitlist

The boost has contributed to a consistent drop of people on the province’s family doctor waitlist, but still thousands are without a doctor.

As of April’s latest data shared by Nova Scotia Health,there are 60,193 people on the Need a Family Practice Registry.

Last month, NSH reported 61,947 people on the waitlist which means it has gone down by 1,754 due to registrations, attachments to family doctors or nurse practitioners, and other updates over time.

The percentage of the population on the registry now stands at 5.5 per cent.

Its next update will be in early June.