Even though he doesn’t really know why the province is focus on banning international students from medical schoolGiven their small numbers, the new dean of Northern Ontario’s medical school has some advice for increasing the number of family doctors.

Dr Michael Green took the lead EMNO University On November 1, as he became vice-chancellor, dean and CEO, succeeding Dr Sarita Vermawho is retiring after five years in this position.

Green is the immediate past president of College of Family Physicians of Canada and comes to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine from Kingston, where he was Chair of Family Medicine at Queen’s University.

He was made available to reporters Friday during a virtual scrimmage marking his first day on the job at NOSM University.

Sudbury.com asked Green what his advice would be to Premier Doug Ford for increasing the number of family doctors in Ontario.

He said he was very pleased with the current expansion of medical education in Ontario, with the opening of two new medical schools in Ontario (at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University) and more places in medical school in existing schools.

NOSM University is expanding to 108 seats in its medical school program, a complete doubling of the number of places in its 2005 class, as well as an expansion of its postgraduate program.

Overseeing this expansion is Green’s priority in his new role, along with developing a new strategic plan for NOSM University.

But “announcing the numbers is one thing,” Green said, adding that government funding is needed to put in place the community support needed to train all these new doctors when they go into hospitals and practices. doctors to complete their clinical internships.

“I would like to see support for the creation of community teaching units, what we call clinical teaching units,” he said, providing us with “support to enable our community teachers to ‘have more students in the community and provide courses’. care.”

Since its inception nearly twenty years ago, the Northern Ontario Faculty of Medicine has been dedicated to community-based physician education.

But such training isn’t free, Green said, giving the example of a family doctor who might need additional clinical space to accommodate their students.

He added that family doctors need “support for their practice” because even once trained, they will not stay “if their working conditions are not good”.

Green also recommends “fair compensation” for doctors, “but the OMA (Ontario Medical Association) needs to work that out with the province.”

The expansion of NOSM University beyond current targets would depend on all of the above factors, he said:

We also asked Green about recent high-profile announcements surrounding medical schools made by the Ontario government.

This includes banning international students from medical schools starting in fall 2026 and covering tuition costs for more than 1,000 students who commit to becoming family doctors in Ontario.

When asked why he thought the province was working to ban international students from Ontario medical schools, even though there are only a small number, Green replied: “ I don’t really know what it is.

EMNO University there are no international studentsbecause candidates must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents. In fact, 91 percent of the school’s students come from Northern Ontario.

“NOSM has no international students, and there are only 11 in all of Ontario,” Green said.

“Three of the schools have them. My understanding is that these are what we call supernumerary positions, that is to say that they do not take away seats from Ontarians, but that they are added to what the faculty of medicine would normally offer.

“But we (NOSM University) don’t have them. We focus all our energies on training Canadian citizens and permanent residents to practice in the North.

Green said he is pleased to see the expansion of the Stay and Learn program, which covers tuition and other training costs, to include students committing to becoming family doctors in Ontario.

He said medical students graduate with up to $200,000 in debt each. “So if you can take that pressure off them, it’s just one more thing that will make it easier to say yes to family medicine,” Green said.

Over its two decades of existence, NOSM University has had some success in reducing the physician shortage in Northern Ontario.

If students do both medical school and residency in Northern Ontario, 90 percent stay in the region. Overall, “it’s a little less, but it’s still more than half of those staying long-term,” Green said.

Although he arrived at NOSM University via Kingston, Green is no stranger to Northern Ontario, having practiced in Moose Factory on the James Bay coast from 1995 to 2003 as a young doctor.

He said he had already found accommodation in Thunder Bay, where one of NOSM University’s campuses is located, and was looking for another in Sudbury. He will travel back and forth between the two northern cities.

Green said his previous experience in Northern Ontario will be extremely helpful to him, as he has already built relationships with other health professionals in the region.

“Many of the doctors I have worked with over the years have, like me, aged and moved on to other positions, and they are now all over Northern Ontario,” he said. “So I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with them.”

-With files from the Canadian Press

Heidi Ulrichsen is the associate editor of Sudbury.com. She also covers education and the arts scene.