New Brunswick announces new medical school

New Brunswick Post-Secondary Education Minister Ed Doherty announced on Tuesday the details of a deal that will provide English-language medical training in the province.

Beginning in September 2010, the University of New  Brunswick's Saint John campus will offer a four-year undergraduate program to train new doctors, Doherty told the legislature. The program will be offered in conjunction with Dalhousie University in Halifax.

"The UNBSJ campus will be home to New Brunswick's first class of anglophone students beginning in the year 2010 and will build on the success of our francophone medical education program in Moncton," Doherty said in the legislature.

The University of Moncton already offers a similar program in French through an affiliation with the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec.

Dalhousie will deliver the new English-language curriculum to students and UNB will provide student services, the minister said.

About 30 applicants will be accepted into the program each year.

"Our government is committed to improving primary health care in New Brunswick, and training physicians in this province will help address this goal," Doherty said.

The program will be delivered out of the building that currently houses Saint John College.

The New Brunswick government will invest about $620,000 toward developing the program and recruiting staff.

The program was originally expected to begin last year, but the start date has been delayed a number of times.

Former premier Bernard Lord originally proposed the medical training program, with a start date of September 2007.