University of Saskatchewan to add seats at medical school

The University of Saskatchewan is taking steps it hopes will help address the province’s shortage of doctors.

On Monday, the Ministry of Health said the university’s College of Medicine is adding four seats to the fall 2023 intake of medical students, and another four in the fall of 2024.

Those two hikes would increase the total number of seats to 108. The eight new seats all are to be based in Saskatoon.

“The ability to educate and train more physicians right here in the province is a key element of Saskatchewan’s Health Human Resources (HHR) Action Plan to keep building on our success,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said in a media release.

“Physicians trained in Saskatchewan are more likely to look for opportunities closer to home and build their practice right here in Saskatchewan.”

The current 100 seats are split between Saskatoon and Regina, with 60 of them in the Bridge City. All of the school’s medical students take some of their training in other communities and rural areas over the four-year program.

“The College of Medicine is excited and highly supportive of these seat expansions in our medical doctor program,” Dr. Preston Smith, the college’s dean, said in the release.

“Our team is working hard to ensure we are well-positioned to provide the high standard of medical education we already deliver here to these additional and very welcome learners in our program.”

The College of Medicine also recently increased post-graduate residency seats from 120 to 128, including the addition of family medicine seats in the southeast area of the province.