By: Norm Letnick, Lake Country Calendar
Feb 5, 2014
My staff and I have been organizing a series of forums on health care for our community and one theme has emerged in each topic, be it oral health, eye health, or aging: The decisions and habits we make now will affect our health and our future, and when problems are caught early, they are often easier to treat.
Having access to a primary health care professional is an important aspect of preventative health, and the best way for British Columbians to address concerns they might have early on. Our government and the B.C. Medical Association are working together to increase access to family doctors and primary health care through the A GP for Me program.
This program is supported by $132.4 million in funding, and involves more than 4,000 family physicians across the province.
We are addressing the number of family doctors in the province and working to double the number of seats for first-year medical students, already up from 128 in 2001 to 288 in 2013. We have committed more than $265 million to create and expand clinical academic space, and have created new medical education centres, including right here at UBC Okanagan.