New Brunswick is set to hire 25 new health specialists in the province. Recruitment is set to begin immediately with the goal of filling all positions this fiscal year.
Premier Brian Gallant and New Brunswick Medical Society president Dr. Dharm Singh made the announcement in Saint John on Friday.
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“Strengthening the delivery and accessibility of health care is important to the quality of life of New Brunswick families,” Gallant said in a press release.
“Adding more specialists to the system will reduce health-care wait times.”
The announcement didn’t specify where the specialists will work but said that decision will be based on current vacancies in the province.
Singh hopes it will help the issue of recruitment and retention.
“Many times the specialists, they like to practice in the area of where they are trained or surrounding area,” said Singh. “We do not have much specialist training in this province. We have to be more active and we have to enhance our strategy for recruitment and retention in this province and try to fill these 25 positions and also those positions which are already vacant.”
Saint John gastroenterologist Dr. Cory Gillis believes improving recruitment and retention will lead to a key area of better work/life balance for physicians.
“If you look at some of the most important hiring criteria to most physicians, besides being able to do what they want to do, is try to balance out their family lives and it’s become much more important recently as compared to times gone by,” Dr. Cory Gillis said.
The 25 specialists are expected to cost the province around $16 million a year.
“These new specialist positions will help the province provide optimal care and support for New Brunswick’s aging population and enhance access to care overall,” said Singh.
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One of the 25 new specialist positions will be a cardiologist at the Saint John Regional Hospital.
The hiring of new specialists follows the province’s recent announcement that it would hire 25 new family doctors.
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