CBU ready to open new medical school this fall

Cape Breton University has sent out letters of offer to 30 students and says it is ready to open a new medical school this fall.

A new building at CBU is scheduled to open in October in conjunction with Dalhousie University's medical school and classes are expected to start in August in the old Nova Scotia Community College buildings next door until the new structure is finished.

Dr. Jennifer Hall, senior associate dean of CBU's medical campus, told CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton that recent budget cuts due to a drop in enrolment by international students at CBU will not affect the medical program.

"The budget associated with the [medical] campus is separate from the budget of CBU and of Dalhousie, so it's a priority initiative that has a dedicated budget in itself," she said.

Some local physicians have expressed concerns about their ability to take time away from practice to teach.

But Hall said up to 45 doctors from the area have been recruited to teach first-year students at the new medical school and she is already recruiting more for the second year.

"One of the key things is the hiring of the team and we have such an energized group of physicians and staff who are ready to meet the 30 new students starting in August," she said.

Hall has practised family medicine and was associate dean at the Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick campus for nine years.

She was president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2015-16 and is currently chair of the residency accreditation committee, which sets standards for family medicine residency programs accredited by the college.

Hall said teaching is not new to local physicians.

"Medical education has actually happened in Cape Breton since 1997, so this is just a new phase … where there is an opportunity to take students from their first medical school day and teach them entirely in Cape Breton," she said.

The students are expected to learn about the local population's medical needs, including those of Indigenous and African Nova Scotian descent, which CBU says would be applicable in rural settings throughout the province.

They will take classes at CBU over the first two years and then do clinical placements the following two years mostly in Cape Breton and rural Nova Scotia, but also throughout the Maritimes.

Students have to sign a return-of-service agreement that requires the doctors to work in rural Nova Scotia for several years after graduation.