Saint John’s growth agency is working to help attract more physicians to the region.
Envision Saint John launched a new physician recruitment video earlier this week.
The video promotes some of the health-related initiatives in the region and showcases why it is a great place to live and work.
Andrew Beckett, interim CEO of Envision Saint John, said the initiative is a key part of their overall growth strategy.
“In terms of growing our population, it’s important to make sure that some of the basic human needs are satisfied,” Beckett said in an interview.
“Physician recruitment becomes a key part in terms of an overall strategy to grow the region’s population.”
A recent report prepared for the New Brunswick Medical Education Foundation showed the health-care sector employs one of every eight workers in the Saint John region.
It also found that for every provincial tax dollar spent on health care, about 24 cents comes back in new tax revenue.
Envision also announced that it was launching two new medical student bursaries, each valued at $10,000 over four years.
Beckett said participants must sign a one-year pledge to practice in the Saint John region after graduation. Preference will be given to applicants who have declared an interest in family medicine.
“We want to do whatever we can to try and have some of those students stay in the region. The more that we can do to make this, to showcase the region as an attractive place to live, we think it’s positive,” he said.
