B.C. says 54 doctors have signed contracts after new salary incentives announced
The B.C. government says that 54 doctors have signed contracts with the province to provide full-time family doctor service after the Ministry of Health announced a signing bonus and other incentives earlier this summer.
On June 21, the province announced it would be offering a $25,000 signing bonus as well as medical training debt forgiveness up to $130,000 to new family doctors who agreed to work in B.C. for five years.
First-year salaries for the new physicians would be $295,457, and doctors were being offered a one-time payment of $75,000 to help with overhead costs for clinics.
Since then, the province says it has signed 54 contracts with family physicians as of Oct. 1, and that 60 more are in talks about finding clinic placements and contract terms.
"Since June 2022, 140 new family physicians have expressed interest in the incentives," said the province in a release Wednesday.
When the incentives were announced in June, the program was met with some controversy.
Many doctors felt like they were blindsided by the initiative, and that physicians had been left out of the consultation process on how to improve the health-care system in B.C.
"There's been a significant amount of anger and frustration among the community of residents and I think part of that has to do with the consultation process," said Dr. Devon Mitchell, resident of the Resident Doctors of B.C., in June.
"One of the big messages we want to carry forward working with government is that there needs to be a more robust system of consulting with residents – particularly those intimately affected," he said at the time.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Penny Daflos
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.