News @ a glance

Island medicine: Hoping it will yield a recruiting edge, Prince Edward Island will invest $1.2 million per year to create 5 family medicine residencies each year on the island in conjunction with Dalhousie University's Faculty of Medicine, starting in July 2009. “Medical residents who trained here and become familiar with the Island way of life, and style of medical practice, have the highest potential to stay,” provincial Health Minister Doug Currie said.

Ebola strain no. 5: The World Health Organization says a new form of the deadly Ebola virus has been detected in a major outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever in western Uganda. According to a Médecins Sans Frontières exploratory mission conducted last month, some 115 new cases of Ebola fever, and 31 deaths, had occurred as of Dec. 11, 2007. There is no known treatment for Ebola fever, which has a mortality rate of 50%–90%.

Big stick: The Alberta legislature wrapped up its fall sitting by passing new legislation that curbs self-regulation by 28 health care professions in the province. Controversial Bill 41 has been assailed by the Alberta Medical Association as nothing less than “draconian” because it empowers the minister to reduce educational requirements, permits censorship of physicians and threatens patient privacy (CMAJ 2007;177[11]:1342).

Never events: American style fines for medical negligence and hospital errors should be levied when patients suffer harm and need additional medical care and extended stays in hospital, says England's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Liam Donaldson. “Why should the health service, funded by the taxpayer, pay for the care of a patient that's had bad care,” Donaldson asked following the release of a United Kingdom National Patient Safety Agency report that indicated there were 700 000 “patient safety incidents” in 2006/07, resulting in nearly 3000 deaths.