Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

Grande Prairie’s Mayor calls announcement for new training centre for physicians “good news for the region”

Apr 12, 2024 | 12:00 PM

Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton is welcoming news that physician training is coming to Grande Prairie.

“I’ve heard numbers of training 10 physicians a year, so, 10 a year, you catch up decently, knowing that each doctor takes a couple thousand patients.”

“It’ll be a few years, but now, in conjunction with Maskwa, U of A and (NWP), they’re on a path forward and it’s great news for the region.”

The provincial government announced on April 3 that Northwestern Polytechnic and the University of Alberta would work together on establishing a training centre located here in Grande Prairie.

Clayton adds the lag time between the current shortage of family doctors and the first trainees finishing at the new centre is not something the municipality, or even the region, can fix by itself.

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“This is a provincial, federal issue that there truly is a shortage of general practitioners.”

“I know the provincial government is working hard to attract more doctors from other countries to move to Alberta and I know the federal government is working in conjunction with the provincial government to streamline those processes.””

Clayton says there is what she calls “a significant need for general practitioners” in Grande Prairie.

“We know a large amount of our population doesn’t have a family doctor, including myself, and so with that, I think that is something that is addressed at provincial levels and federal levels. We need to train more doctors.”

“Living in this region is an excellent opportunity and health care professionals that come to this region recognize that.”

Clayton says she had a chance to meet with a urologist recently, a doctor that agreed to come to Grande Prairie. Clayton expects them to start practicing here by this fall.