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Saskatchewan is offering some big incentives to attract health-care specialists to the province.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Health announced a $200,000 retention incentive for pediatric gastroenterologists, as well as pediatric immunology and allergy specialists. The incentive requires them to work for five years in Saskatoon.
The positions are in high demand. Saskatchewan’s only pediatric allergist left for Alberta at the end of April, while Saskatchewan families have been forced to travel as far as Toronto for care from a pediatric gastroenterologist.
Similar incentive packages are available for specialists in anesthesia, psychiatry and breast and interventional radiology.
Health Minister Everett Hindley said the incentives are part of the government’s Health Human Resources Action Plan, which aims to add 1,000 new workers to the province’s health-care system by bolstering recruitment, retention and training. Saskatchewan has struggled with shortages of doctors and health-care workers since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Continued investment in health human resources along with generous incentives help ensure Saskatchewan remains an attractive place for health care professionals to live, work and study,” Hindley said in a statement.
The plan is showing some results. According to the health ministry, a Calgary perfusionist recently started work at the Regina General Hospital. According to the ministry, the perfusionist will work alongside cardiac surgeons and anesthesiologists in Interventional Cardiology and Cardiac Support Services.
Since December of 2022, the province has hired 1,156 nursing grads from within and outside Saskatchewan. In addition, the ministry said 303 hard-to-recruit positions have been filled thanks to incentives offered to those willing to work in rural and remote communities.
Incentives are also offered to doctors who work in rural and northern communities, and 138 of those $200,000 incentives have already been approved.
More information on the plan can be found on the provincial government’s website.