Dateline April 28, 2008

Canada –

There is a medical crisis brewing in the Canadian medical industry that has no easy solution and is being enflamed by the prospect of monumental medical school debt for young doctors. Canada needs more physicians to serve rural and aboriginal communities, a part that is usually filled by new doctors just out of medical school, but promising young students are being discourage from becoming doctors, or even applying to medical school due to the debt associated with becoming a doctor in Canada.

A recent National Physicians Survey, released Monday, shows that more than a third of medical school students who responded to the survey expect their debt load to exceed $80,000. Among third and fourth year students who relied to the survey, 5.5 percent expect to have debts in excess of $160,000 by the time they graduate.
If you come from a lower socioeconomic background, from rural Canada, an aboriginal family, you will certainly be in shock by such numbers and would probably look at other, less expensive career choices, thus the need for more doctors.

Industry experts and watchdogs point out that if your from a less wealthy Canadian family, you’re less likely to head to medical school, scholarships are hard to come by or non existent. They say class demographics in medical schools has changed, that less people from rural areas are applying and the trend is going to increase as the costs associated with education increase.

Education directly relates to income in society, the cycle is only going to get worse as the gap between the middle class and the affluent increases, decreasing the level of medical care for the poor, while the rich can always afford the best of everything in Canadian life.

The answer is to increase scholarships to medical schools for talented individuals without the financial resources to compete with richer rivals, supplement the costs associated with medical school for deserving individuals. These individuals will then become doctors and eventually head back to their rural homes, increasing the level of medical care for rural and aboriginal people. To achieve this we need to decrease the costs associated with becoming a doctor so that all Canadians with the talent, regardless of financial or socioeconomic background to have a chance to make a difference and become doctors.