The Ministry of Health and Doctors of BC are strengthening their efforts to attract more doctors to rural and remote communities with a new shared $100,000 financial award for medical students who demonstrate an interest in practising medicine in those communities and to support rural students entering medical school.
The first set of British Columbia Rural Interest Awards have been granted to 20 University of British Columbia medical students who come from a variety of rural communities or have demonstrated an interest in entering rural medicine once training is complete. Annually, up to 20 medical students will be given individual awards of $5,000 to support their pursuit of practising rural medicine.
“We know that students who train in rural communities are more likely to consider practicing rural medicine,” said Dr. Bill Cavers, president of Doctors of BC.