Information was shared with Moncton City Council this week about New Brunswick Medical Education Foundation Inc.
It’s a registered charity dedicated to helping alleviate the current and future physician shortage.
“We were founded in 2010 by a group of physicians approaching retirement themselves who became increasingly concerned about what would happen to their patients when they retired. They were concerned that those patients would become orphaned and didn’t see the influx of young doctors who would come in and meet that need, and of course, that need in New Brunswick is significant,” Executive Director Alyssa Long says.
She told City Councillors that in New Brunswick there are 180,000 people today without access to a primary care provider. The average doctor in New Brunswick is 49 years old and quickly approaching retirement.
“We’re not only looking to address the imminent crisis but the future crisis and future outlook for New Brunswickers. In Moncton, we see this crisis reflected on a smaller scale, but certainly just as important. We’ve seen since 2002 the number of Moncton residents with access to a family physician or nurse practitioner has dropped from 90 per cent to 81 per cent. Just 29 per cent of residents who are lucky enough to have a provider can get an appointment within five days. We know that populations who are low income, who may be newcomers, face additional barriers to care,” Long adds.
The Foundation is a registered charity that supports medical students and nurse practitioner students who commit to practicing in New Brunswick once qualified. Since creation, Long says results have been significant.
“The numbers we’ve produced since inception, we supported 318 students. In just 2024 we awarded 149 scholarships totalling $1.1 million in tuition support. All of those are return-to-service scholarships, meaning those students are going to come back and practice medicine in New Brunswick. 57 of our graduate alumni are now practicing in New Brunswick and all regions. What’s even more exciting is we have a pipeline of 226 current students, medical residents, who are committed to practicing here once they finish their program,” Long stated.
Sixty-four per cent of their current recipients are bilingual, and 45 per cent are from historically underrepresented groups.
