A videoconferencing system connecting three B.C. universities is expected to do a lot to ease the physician shortage problem in the province. The videoconferencing system, developed for the University of Northern B.C. in Prince George by Winnipeg-based MTS Allstream Inc., allows medical students
at the university to finish their degrees there rather than having to complete the full four years at the University of B.C. in Vancouver. Likewise, students from the University of Victoria can also now finish their degrees at their home university.
UNBC has distributed all four years of its medical program to the other two universities to facilitate the program. All students must complete only the first semester of the program at UBC.
“”There is evidence to suggest if you train people from small communities or people who have an affinity to be northerners or rural people, they are more likely to end up working in the north,”” said Dr. David Snadden, associate dean responsible for the Northern Medical Program at UNBC.