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By paNOW Staff

Rural health

Sask. offers $200,000 doctor incentive for northern, rural communities

Mar 15, 2023 | 10:03 AM

Doctors willing to work in rural and northern communities in Saskatchewan could get $200,000 over five years, the province announced today.

The new dollars are four times the previous incentive and some of the highest in Canada.

“Our government recognizes the challenge of attracting doctors to rural and remote areas of the province, and this increased incentive will enhance our ability to attract more rural physicians and meet that challenge,” Premier Scott Moe said at the gathering of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities today.

Along with increasing the amount, the province also added a year to the timeline to help keep doctors in rural areas.

Doctors already practicing in those areas are also now eligible for the incentive where previously the $47,000 was only available to new grads.

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“The enhanced incentive of up to $200,000 over five years will help attract more family physicians to rural and northern communities across Saskatchewan,” Rural and Remote Health Minister Everett Hindley said.

“Family physicians play an important role in rural and northern communities because they also support emergency departments, acute care beds, and other important services provided by local health care facilities,” he said.

The Rural Physician Incentive Program first launched in 2013-14 to incentivize recent graduates to take up practice in rural and northern communities across the province.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com