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VANCOUVER – Construction of a new medical school at the University of B.C. that will nearly double the number of medical students in B.C. is now half-complete, and the school is on track to begin accepting students next year, said Premier Gordon Campbell.
Premier Campbell led a public tour today to showcase the new $110-million Life Sciences Centre. The facility will be partially opened in August 2004 to begin accommodating UBC medical students and will be fully occupied by January 2005.
The facility is part of a $134-million life sciences initiative that also includes two new medical school facilities at the University of Northern B.C. in Prince George and the University of Victoria. Construction tenders for both facilities will be opened this week.
“Our New Era commitment to almost double the number of the medical school students in B.C. is on track and will help to significantly improve patient care across B.C.,” Campbell said. “The Life Sciences Centre is one of three new medical-school facilities being built across B.C. For the first time ever, we will be training doctors in the north and on Vancouver Island, to significantly increase our supply of rural health professionals.”
“With the doubling of medical graduates, and the construction of this Life Sciences Centre, B.C. is taking its place in the forefront of Canadian medical education and research,” said Dr. John Cairns, Dean, UBC Faculty of Medicine.
B.C. has the lowest number of medical-school spaces per capita of any region in Canada. Under the life sciences initiative, the number of first-year medical-school spaces will increase to 224 from 128 by 2005. Starting in September 2004, 24 new student spaces will be added at each of the three universities. The following September, another 24 spaces will be added at UBC. By the year 2009, B.C. will be graduating 224 new physicians annually.
Students will enter the medical program in one of three streams: UBC, UNBC or UVic. All students will receive a UBC medical degree when they complete their studies.
As well as expanding the number of teaching spaces, the UBC project will enable an expansion of the research capabilities of life sciences at UBC, to attract and accommodate the additional staff needed to support the expanded facility.
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