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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
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VICTORIA – Premier Gordon Campbell opened the new home of the Island medical program at the University of Victoria today, where medical students will prepare to practise in smaller cities and rural areas, as well as meet the medical needs of an aging population.
“With today’s opening of the Medical Sciences Building, we now have all the pieces in place to start training more doctors than ever before in B.C., and for the first time ever we will see doctors training right here at UVic,” Campbell said. “By 2010, the first family doctors from this expanded program will be providing excellent care for patients in growing Island communities like Duncan, Campbell River or Nanaimo – the same communities where many of them will have undertaken part of their training.”
The $12-million, 4,040-square-metre Medical Sciences Building – the first UVic facility built to a gold-level standard for leadership in environmental and energy design – will eventually accommodate 96 students in the Island medical program. They will be linked through sophisticated audiovisual and e-learning technology for simultaneous, interactive learning with other medical students at the University of B.C. in Vancouver and the University of Northern B.C. in Prince George. Government provided $134 million for state-of-the-art buildings at the universities as part of its commitment to almost double the number of doctors trained in B.C.
Island medical program students will see first-hand how medicine is practised in mid-sized urban communities, smaller centres, and isolated coastal regions of the Island. Students will also experience the lifestyle advantages of living in areas less densely populated than the Lower Mainland.
“Medical school graduates tend to practise close to where they were trained, so educating doctors in more places throughout the province will ensure more communities enjoy the health, social and economic benefits of having good medical care close by,” said Advanced Education Minister Shirley Bond. “We’re also creating more training opportunities for other professionals who are part of the range of health-care services our province depends on.”
The Medical Sciences Building has lecture theatres, laboratories, areas for conventional teaching as well as tele-learning, and office and research space for students and doctors interested in collaborative research. Students will have access to all of UVic’s on-campus resources and programs.
“UVic’s expertise in biomedical sciences, as well as the strength of its centres on aging and aboriginal people’s health are among the assets here that will give students exposure to a wide range of medical issues and practices,” said UVic president David Turpin. “Medical students from Prince George and Vancouver will also be able to do courses here to take advantage of the Island medical program’s strengths.”
The first 24 students will begin their studies in the Medical Sciences Building in January, after completing their initial semester at UBC’s Vancouver campus. All graduates will receive medical degrees from UBC.
“This program has so many things going for it – the small size of the classes, the variety of settings for practical instruction, and the backing of doctors in the area,” said David Harris, vice-president of the UBC medical undergraduate society, representing the Island medical program. “We’re looking forward to being the first class to graduate from the Island medical program in 2008.”
“We’re already attracting top students and faculty to the Island medical program, and that’s just the beginning,” said Ida Chong, MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head. “Health research will also be done in the Medical Sciences Building, with health and economic benefits that will be felt at home and beyond.”
Funding for the $134-million investment in medical school facilities, announced in March 2002, came from the Ministry of Advanced Education's budget for capital projects.
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For information on AchieveBC, visit http://www.achievebc.ca online.
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