There are a number of different programs we employ. The one with which we've had the greatest success thus far is actually an Rx2000 initiative dealing specifically with attraction and retention of medical officers and, to a lesser extent, pharmacists.
We have, over the last three years, brought ourselves from approximately a 45% deficit in the number of medical officers that we required to slightly less than a 10% deficit now. So we're well on the road to recovery with the general duty medical officers, the equivalent of your family physicians, and we anticipate hitting our preferred manning levels by the summer of 2009.
The medical specialists--that is to say, within the military context specifically, general surgeons, anesthetists, orthopedic surgeons, internal medicine specialists, psychiatrists—are very small groups to begin with. There are only 10 of each within the forces, with the exception of five psychiatrists. That is to say, that's our manning level. And we can be in as serious a deficit as 100%, as we are currently with radiologists, or at or over PML. In fact, we are currently over the preferred manning level for anesthetists. The ideal manning level is 10, and we currently have 12 in uniform.
They are the harder group to attract, and they have traditionally been the harder group to retain. Our retention, by way of comparison, for our general duty medical officers has gone from about 50-odd percent in 2000 and 2001 to--we're forecasting--about 65% by as early as this year.