Mr. Chairman, I spoke to several students who were in the process of getting their degree to practise medicine. Many of them have told me that they cannot afford to stay in Newfoundland and Labrador to practise as family physicians because of the large debt load they must pay back. Some will leave the province because the money and working conditions are better.
The province from to time designates so many doctors to cover for MCP in certain areas and as a result will not hire more. There is no incentive for them to go to rural Newfoundland and Labrador. If the province would give them incentives they would probably go there. Some have said why should they go down into rural Newfoundland and Labrador and spend 10 years of their life trying to accommodate the province when it will not give them anything back? They are forced to go to Upper Canada, as they say, to make more money so they can pay off their debt load much quicker.
Some people do return after 10 or 15 years, but the problem then is where do they go? The doctors who are there are probably younger and will not be leaving because they made a commitment. Tax incentives to persuade doctors to stay there is a good idea. It is something that the federal government should look at.
Just prior to announcing that I was running in the election I spoke to three interns. They told me that if the government could take care of their debt they would give a commitment to the people of the province and go to rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
They know the need is there and they know they need the expertise there to make health care better out on the coast. That is why in rural Newfoundland and Labrador they are training nurse practitioners to take on the workload. Some of the nurse practitioners are able to do it and some are not able to do it because of family concerns and family problems and commitments. If there was an incentive program to work with they would do it.