Net gain: N.S. added nearly 200 more doctors than it lost last year

Nova Scotia recruited nearly 200 more doctors than it lost over the past year, say officials with the province's health authority.

Katrina Philopoulos, the director of physician recruitment for Nova Scotia Health, told CBC's Information Morning Halifax the province's efforts have resulted in an overall net gain of 189 doctors since January 2024, representing the number of doctors added to the health-care system compared to the number that retired or left for various reasons.

That's an increase of roughly 50 per cent over the previous year.

Many of the new doctors have set up shop in the Halifax and Cape Breton regional municipalities, but others also chose to locate in less populated areas such as Yarmouth, Philopoulos said. 

"We really have physicians going everywhere in our province," she said.

Among the new doctors, 45 were recruited to the eastern zone, including 27 in CBRM, said Sarah O'Toole, the physician recruitment consultant for that zone.

Fourteen doctors left during the same time period, leaving the zone with a net gain of 31, Nova Scotia Health confirmed.

Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney, N.S., now has a full complement of anesthesiologists for the first time in a number of years, O'Toole told CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton.

"It means that all of our operating theatres can be open and providing care to patients in Nova Scotia," she said. "It's been a few years since we've been able to have them all open like that."

When asked whether the recruits would relieve pressure on the provincial registry for people seeking a primary care physician, O'Toole said some of the new doctors are replacing retiring family physicians.

"We see our registry numbers and we know the needs are high in Cape Breton Regional Municipality and so our goal is focused on finding those providers that are interested in the office practice and interested in providing family medicine full scope."

As of the beginning of February, 104,324 people in Nova Scotia were looking for a family doctor.

Philopoulos said about 50 per cent of the province's recruits are graduates of Dalhousie University's medical school and roughly 30 per cent are international medical graduates.