U of S to add training programs for hard-to-find health-care specialists

The province is funding two new programs at the University of Saskatchewan to help recruit and retain more health-care specialists.

Starting in 2026, the U of S will offer two-year master's programs for speech-language pathology and occupational therapy. Each program at the U of S will take up to 40 students annually.

Currently, the province pays to reserve 50 spots for Saskatchewan students to study in similar programs at the University of Alberta. Each spot costs the province $40,000.

The province is spending $8.1 million to establish the two programs at the U of S. About $7 million is for renovating spaces on campus and about $1 million is for start-up operational costs. The province will also fund ongoing operations, but has not determined the annual cost.

The training programs target two health-care fields that are in high demand. Saskatchewan Health Minister Everett Hindley said homegrown students are more likely to stay in the province after graduation.

"We have trouble recruiting them as it is because there are high demands for trying to build our health-care system, trying to fund more permanent full-time positions in the province," Hindley said on Friday at the announcement.

"But unless you have that feeder of grads coming out of a post-secondary education program, it is difficult to fill those positions."

Christine Fleming, a regional director of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, said her profession has been working for years to establish a training program in the province.

"The creation of this occupational therapy program at the University of Saskatchewan will address the long-standing provincial shortage of OTs [occupational therapists] and allow for greater access to critical occupational therapy services," Fleming said.