Nova Scotia added 187 doctors to health-care system last year

Nova Scotia welcomed 187 new doctors to the health-care system last year, which is almost twice the net gain from the year before.

For the 2024 fiscal year, the province attracted 253 new doctors, but that was offset by things like retirements and departures.

"We are happy and pleased with the numbers this year, but we're not done, and we will not take our foot off the gas," said Katrina Philopoulos, director of recruitment for Nova Scotia Health.

In a statement, Premier Tim Houston praised the numbers.

"That goes to show the success of our efforts to make Nova Scotia an attractive and welcoming workplace for doctors from around the world," he said.

Of the 253 new doctors, 89 are family physicians and 164 are specialists.

Philopoulos said the two biggest sources of recruits were Dalhousie University medical residents and internationally-trained doctors.

As well, a recruitment and retention program has helped welcome physicians to smaller areas of the province, including Truro, Digby and Antigonish.

"This work wouldn't be successful without the community showing individuals and wrapping their arms around physicians and their families to ensure they can set down roots," said Philopoulos.

Need-a-doctor waiting list

As of April 1, the number of people on the waiting list for a family doctor or nurse practitioner dropped to 93,700, down from 104,300 people on Feb. 15.

"Those gains have been really positive and one of the reasons has been our ability to recruit family medicine docs to the province," said Philopoulos.

As of March, the number of vacancies for family doctors and specialists were 104 and 108, respectively.