More allied health professionals are on the way as the B.C. government announced it is adding more training seats to post-secondary institutions throughout the province.
“We know that these allied health-care professionals are in high demand,” said Anne Kang, B.C.’s minister of advanced education and skills training.
“We are responding to that demand by ensuring people in our province get better health-care access. We are making investments by significantly increasing the number of people we are training.”
The government announced it has plans to add 322 more allied health professional training seats and will also provide bursaries to internationally educated allied health professionals and existing health authority employees to make training more affordable.
“Building up and supporting our health workforce is our biggest priority,” said Adrian Dix, B.C. minister of health.
“Our communities have been telling us how important the need for more health services is, and we are listening. You are heard. That’s why we’re supporting public post-secondary institutions to expand and create pathways to get more health workers into the system.”
The new training seats include:
- 278 ongoing allied health seats throughout the province.
- One-time funding for 24 seats at Vancouver Community College, supports for students at Camosun College, and regional distribution of Thompson Rivers University’s Open Learning program for urgently needed medical laboratory assistants.
- A new bridging program at the Justice Institute of British Columbia to help advanced-care paramedics trained in other provinces and countries transition to practice within B.C.
- Up to 20 one-time fast-track seats for respiratory therapists at Thompson Rivers University.
More than two-thirds of the new seats will be open for trainees by fall 2023, with some starting as early as summer 2022, according to the B.C. government.