Nova Scotia signs agreement with Lebanese universities to recruit family doctors

CITYnews halifax / By Chris Halef

The province signed agreements with two universities in Lebanon to bring family doctors to Nova Scotia.

Premier Tim Houston announced Wednesday that a five-year memorandum of agreement with the Lebanese American University in Beirut commits the university to sending 10 ready-to-practice physicians to Nova Scotia.

Two doctors from the university are expected to arrive in the province each year under the agreement.

“We have doctors who want to make Nova Scotia their home, and we have opportunities to help them do what they do best, provide care to patients,” said Health Minister Michelle Thompson. “These partnerships will further strengthen ties between our province and Lebanon and create a unique opportunity to bring highly skilled family physicians to Nova Scotia.”

Wadih Fares, honorary consul of Lebanon in Halifax, said the effort goes beyond recruitment.

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“We match a very real need in Nova Scotia’s health-care system with the incredible human capital that Lebanon continues to offer,” said Fares. “This was never just about recruitment, it was about building lasting bridges of opportunity and trust.”

The province plans to spend $5 million over the life of the agreement to cover costs such as medical school residency positions, licensing exams, immigration and relocation expenses.

“This agreement not only recognizes the excellence of family medicine training at the Lebanese American University, it also reflects the extraordinary strength of the Lebanese–Nova Scotian community and the willingness of the provincial government to invest in innovative solutions to our access-to-care challenge,” said Dr. Gus Grant, registrar and CEO of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia.

This comes as the province saw a very small decrease in the number of people connected with a family doctor in May.

The provincial health authority says 51 Nova Scotians were taken off the Need a Family Practice Registry last month.

As of June 1, Nova Scotia Health says there are still 91,423 people on that list, representing about 8.6 per cent of the population.

The health authority says the 51 removed from the list in May were either attached to a provider or taken off the list as the result of ongoing work to determine if people still on the list have already been attached.