Health committee  Based on research that I've done over a number of years, I would say that people everywhere--city, country, anywhere--have a security need. They need to know that if they're unlucky enough to be seriously ill or injured, the system is there to save them. In the urban areas that'

Health committee  That's a very good question. Certainly modern developments in communication and transportation have improved the situation. For example, using telehealth, telemedicine, and real-time video conference linking helps to improve access to care in remote settings. However, in that li

Health committee  Just to reinforce that point, I would suggest the development of a national rural health strategy would be a very helpful way to go. I've seen in Australia the leadership from the federal government, which has really improved the quality and the access to health care in rural and

Health committee  I was the first chair of rural health in Australia, so I got asked that question a lot around the world. I would say that rural is a bit like beauty or pornography: it's in the eye of the beholder. It's very much a mindset, more or less, as John has said. You then do have to, for

Health committee  When you say two types of areas, you mean the urban and the rural areas?

Health committee  Okay. Regarding the first, you have to realize that until very recently, the vast majority of medical students came from the big cities. Only 10% or maybe 11% of a medical school class would come from rural areas, so that most medical students had that city view of the country, w

Health committee  There are 17 medical schools in Canada, of which Northern Ontario School of Medicine is number 17. It is the only new medical school established in Canada in over 30 years. That said, there has been expansion in medical school class size in every province, and in many cases satel

Health committee  The essential principle is that the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, so we look at grade point average. Any applicant who has a grade point average of more than 3.0 on a four-point scale we will consider. We look for a balanced academic background. If they ha

Health committee  Maybe I'll start. To the question about rural practitioners and locums, it's true there is, I would say, a very well-developed system in Australia. Part of the system in Australia is that rural practitioners have more or less automatic funding to attend programs to upgrade their

Health committee  The first thing to say is that there are more than enough residency positions for Canadian medical graduates, MD graduates from Canadian medical schools, across the country. In fact, in all provinces there is the opportunity for international medical graduates to find their way i

Health committee  To add to that, I think it is important to look at a type of “whole systems” approach, to look at the various elements and have incentives that support not only doctors but the whole health team, because that's what is needed in rural communities. There are a couple of limitatio

Health committee  Thank you for the question. The first question was about designated places set aside for aboriginal people to be medical students. Essentially, as we were starting to develop the plan for our medical school, there was heated debate amongst the aboriginal people themselves about

Health committee  The first comment to make in looking at the health status statistics is that if you remove the aboriginal health statistics the data still shows that the health status of people in rural and remote areas is worse than the general population. When you ask what's behind it, sometim

Health committee  I can organize that.

Health committee  I will just give you an idea of the four categories: education, regulation, financial incentives, and personal/professional support. I can tell you more if you'd like to know. On the last point, just as I said, I'm originally from Australia and was very much involved in develop