B.C. pledges funding for over 300 new health care training seats
Posted July 19, 2022 8:18 pm.
Last Updated July 19, 2022 8:24 pm.
In the face of critical staffing shortages and ER closures at B.C.’s hospitals, the province is announcing funding for 322 new training seats at post-secondary schools.
Health Minister Adrian Dix says two dozen seats for urgently needed medical lab assistants will be established at Vancouver Community College, Camosun College and Thompson Rivers University’s open leaning program.
“Building up and supporting our health workforce is our biggest priority,” said Dix in a statement.. “Our communities have been telling us how important the need for more health services is, and we are listening. You are heard.”
While some candidates will start training as early as this summer, most of the seats aren’t expected to be filled until fall of next year.
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“Heavy workload and growing shortages of specialized allied health professionals have pushed the health-care system to the brink,” said Kane Tse, president, Health Sciences Association, and spokesperson for the Health Science Professional Bargaining Association.
“Bursaries for domestic and internationally trained individuals who want to join the rewarding field of allied health, as well as $3 million to support the training and upgrading of current health-science professionals are key pieces of the recruitment strategy we need to urgently fill these highly skilled positions,” Tse added.
Advanced-care paramedics will get training at the Justice Institute of B.C., while seats are also being fast-tracked for respiratory therapists at Thompson Rivers.
The government says intake for more than two-thirds of those seats will be for this fall, although some will start as early as this summer.
In addition to seat expansions, the B.C. government says they are also investing more than $10 million in bursaries and professional development funding.
With files from The Canadian Press
