Quebec med schools up enrolment for second year in row

Quebec is setting the bar high when it comes to increasing medical school enrolment in Canada. It added 65 seats in 1999, and 30 new places are being added this year. They will be divided among the province‚s 4 medical schools. This brings Quebec‚s total number of first-year students to 531, or roughly one-third of medical school admissions across the country.

Only a handful of provinces are following Quebec‚s lead, said Dr. David Hawkins, executive director of the Association of Canadian Medical Colleges. Ontario is considering a 10% increase in first-year enrolment, which would add about 60 places, while Alberta is adding 20 places at both the University of Alberta and University of Calgary.

”The [Quebec government] is responding to the obvious data that there‚s a shortage of doctors in Canada,” says Dr. Abraham Fuks, the dean of McGill‚s medical school. He said the rate of increase in enrolment reflects the province‚s progressive social policies. ”They‚re smarter and more socially responsible [than other provinces].”

Overseas, the United Kingdom is establishing 3 new medical schools with 1000 extra places. —