This month, 42 medical residents accepted Medical Resident Bursaries offered by Newfoundland and Labrador for working in the province for up to 36 months as part of a return-in-service agreement.

This bursary is in addition to the 22 full-time Memorial University students enrolled in their fourth academic year of the Undergraduate Medical Education Program who have accepted the department’s Undergraduate Medical Student Bursary and have agreed to work in the province for at least one year, which was announced earlier this week.

The group of 42 medical residents includes five family medicine residents who will practice in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Other residents have agreed to work in St. John’s, Carbonear, Clarenville, Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, Twillingate, Springdale and Corner Brook.

Funding amounts increase for more rural positions, and range from $40,000 for family medicine residents who practice in St. John’s up to $90,000 for family medicine residents and specialist residents who practice in rural and difficult-to-fill areas. The Medical Resident Bursaries are flexible, and residents can receive pro-rated amounts for working periods less than 36 months.

Medical Resident Bursaries are available to medical residents who are:

• Medical school undergraduates from Memorial University completing the final two years of their post-graduate medical education in Newfoundland and Labrador or in another Canadian program;
• Medical school undergraduates from another Canadian jurisdiction completing the final two years of their post-graduate medical education in Newfoundland and Labrador; or
• A Canadian medical school graduate who has completed undergraduate medical school or post-graduate residency training at Memorial University, and is completing subspecialty training accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

The bursaries are included as part of other incentives that offer thousands of dollars in funding to recruit and retain health care students and experienced professionals in exchange for return for service.

“Our bursaries are working. So far, these two bursaries are resulting in 64 students agreeing to practice in our province,” says provincial health minister Tom Osborne. “Recruiting health care professionals is a competitive market and our programs are enticing health care professionals to work here, which in turn helps balance workloads and helps them decide to stay here. We are not done yet, and we look forward to more physicians and nurses agreeing to work in Newfoundland and Labrador in the coming months.”