Fort Macleod is among the first 15 municipalities selected by the province as part of The Rural Education Supplement and Integrated Doctor Experience program.
Health Minister Jason Copping says future family doctors who choose to work in specific communities, including Cold Lake, Fox Creek, Lac La Biche, Lloydminster, and Grande Cache, will be eligible for $60,000 for undergraduate tuition fee reimbursement, as well as an additional incentive up to $40,000, depending on the remoteness of the municipality. In exchange for the reimbursement, successful physicians will provide three years of service in a designated rural community.
“RESIDE will be key in attracting new family physicians to bring Albertans in rural communities the health care they deserve,” Copping says. “By addressing rural physician recruitment and retention, this $6-million program is another part of our $90-million commitment this year to ensure Albertans have equitable access to physicians no matter where they live.”
The province says eligibility is open to all family medicine resident physicians completing their residency training in 2022, and those who are interested in practising in rural and remote parts of Alberta.
In all, the provincial government will offer up $6 million over the next three years as part of the RESIDE program.