It will pay for doctors to set up shop here in Nova Scotia.
In an expansion to the physician incentive program established in 2022, family doctors and specialists who set up full-time practices in HRM, can now earn up to $75,000.
To sign the agreement, you’ll get $25,000, then $10,000 every year, for the next five years.
For doctors elsewhere in the province, including the Eastern Shore, Musquodoboit and West Hants, it increases to $125,000 over five years.
Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson says, “We need doctors in every part of the province, including the Halifax area, and this expansion offers more choice and added incentive to practice in Nova Scotia.”
To date, 68 doctors are under incentive agreements.
Other efforts to recruit, retain and train more physicians include:
– passing the Patient Access to Care Act, making it faster and easier for healthcare providers to come to Nova Scotia
– working with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia to streamline licensing for doctors from recognized jurisdictions
– attending more than 90 conferences and recruitment events in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom
– participating in the Atlantic Physician Registry, which allows doctors in Atlantic Canada to work more freely across the region
– providing $2 million in grants to support community-led initiatives to help recruit, welcome and retain healthcare professionals through the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment Community Fund
– establishing a new medical school campus at Cape Breton University, adding more medical school seats, increasing the number of residency spaces and supporting a new physician assistant master’s program at Dalhousie University.
