N.L.-trained MDs to work in Nunavut

Some medical residents from Newfoundland and Labrador will hone their skills in Canada's North, under a new partnership between the Nunavut government and Memorial University.

Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced $4.9 million over six years for the NunaFam Project, in which eight family medicine residents from Memorial will practise and receive further training in Nunavut.

Residents who are funded through the project will sign a return-of-service contract, meaning they will work in the territory for two years, according to federal officials.

"It will create up to eight new family medicine residence positions, and that means that eight medical students will come to Nunavut to learn about what it makes, what it takes to practise medicine here," Aglukkaq told reporters Tuesday at Qikiqtani General Hospital in Iqaluit.

"It isn't the same as practising, as you know, in big cities and big hospitals in the South."

Aglukkaq said part of the funding will be used to set up a training centre for the medical residents at the Iqaluit hospital.

The project will begin on July 1.