April 29, 2005
PENTICTON – Premier Gordon Campbell announced today that UBC-Okanagan will be home to B.C.’s fourth medical school campus.
“Training doctors in the Okanagan supports our second Great Goal of leading the way in North America in healthy living and physical fitness,” said Campbell. “The new UBC-Okanagan medical school is going to build on the work we’ve already done to almost double the number of medical school graduates in B.C. – the first doctor training seats added in over 20 years.”
By 2009, the UBC-Okanagan medical school campus will have spaces for over 30 first-year students annually. Estimated costs will be $16 million to build, $10 million to start-up, and $9 million annually thereafter to operate. Initial funding will be allocated in next year’s $13 billion health budget.
“This investment in health care education is going to have a major impact across the entire Southern Interior for years to come,” said Campbell. “We have made real progress in increasing the number of doctors in our province by training more of them right here in B.C. A new medical school campus in Kelowna will build on the first-rate health care system that already exists in the Okanagan and create a pool of new medical graduates that will be trained and practice right here in British Columbia.”
Since 2001, the B.C. Liberal government has added medical school campuses at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, and at the University of Victoria, in addition to expanding the current UBC campus in Vancouver. These measures alone will increase the total number of physicians in training to 896 by 2008, up from 480 in 2001, as first-year students go on to complete their medical training. The new UBC-Okanagan medical school campus will increase that total by at least another 120 new physicians in training in any given year, as new medical students go on to complete their studies.
“This is our vision for improving patient care,” Campbell concluded. “This is the power of a strong economy and a surplus budget – more medical training seats, new medical schools, and better health care for British Columbians in every region.”
