Largest Med School Class Since 1976
Students trained in Manitoba stay in Manitoba
Christine Leong
PHOTO: DAVID LIPNOWSKI
One hundred and one first-year students of the faculty of medicine began classes on August 23, 2006. The U of M has not had a medical class this large since 1976.
Expanding the number of spots has been “a tremendous boost” for students aspiring to pursue a career in medicine, according to Nazanin Fallah-Rad, a first-year medical student. She added, “I think it’s great to sit down with a hundred other classmates and go through the same experiences.”
Second-year medical student Stephen Ying noted that it also increases the likelihood of training physicians that have the tendency to stay in Manitoba.
“Fifteen more doctors a year . . . is good for the province since more people are likely to stay and more are likely, by sheer numbers alone, to practice in the least “popular” areas of medicine, like rural or northern med,” explained Ying.
Residents of Manitoba, especially rural Manitoba, have long endured some of the limitations of today’s healthcare system. In May 2005, the emergency room in Ashern, had to close its doors after five of their doctors left. Since November 2005, Arborg, Manitoba has only had one physician in a town of about 1,000.
“Well, I think we’re all concerned when communities have difficulty in accessing medical care,” commented Larry Reynolds, head of the department of family medicine at the University of Manitoba. “[A class of 101 students is] a definite benefit for us as a province.”
The rise in the number of trained doctors is a result of the 2001 collaboration between the provincial government and the faculty of medicine to raise the retention rate in Manitoba.
Programs such as summer work experience, “rural week,” and scholarship incentives are organized by the Manitoba Office of Rural and Northern Health to help educate students about establishing their career in rural Manitoba. Rural week is “very positively rated by students,” according to Reynolds.
Dr. Don Klassen, the medical director of the Manitoba Office of Rural and Northern Health in Winkler, mentioned that such initiatives also encourage rural students, who may have to incur additional living expenses, to attend medical school.
“Students from rural backgrounds tend to have a higher incidence of returning to rural or northern Manitoba,” said Klassen. With an increase in the number of spots for admission into medicine, there is also an increased chance for rural applicants to have the opportunity to study medicine.
According to the faculty of medicine’s admission statistics, the number of first-year students enrolled fell dramatically from 95 placements, a number that remained constant from 1979 to 1985, to 85 spots in 1986. The numbers continued to fall, and in the 1990s, the numbers fluctuated from 70 to 82 placements.
“My opinion is that it’s not necessarily the largest [class size] in 30 years, but a return to enrollment levels of 30 years ago,” commented Ying, who wondered “whether or not this return to 100 students is a return to normalcy or an aberration.”
Medical school admissions are capped by government funding, and increases have been announced in every provincial budget since 2001.
The province offers five yearly grants of $15,000 to recent medical graduates, and another five $35,000 grants to encourage doctors to work in rural communities. The university’s special premedical studies program encourages Aboriginal students to apply to medicine, and the Manitoba Medical Students Rural Interest Group supports both rural students and medical students interested in practising in rural or Northern Manitoba.
