Member Statement (7 March 2023)

From Hansard (7 March 2023)

 

Expansion of Educational Opportunities in Health Care

Mr. Keisig: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m happy to say there’s more good news for Saskatchewan’s health care sector. Last month the Ministry of Health announced another large expansion of educational opportunities for Saskatchewan students interested in a career in health care.

An investment of five and a half million will create more than 550 new post-secondary training seats across 18 health care training programs. This initiative builds on the fall 2022 expansion of 150 nursing seats in Saskatchewan’s registered nursing, psychiatric nursing, and nurse practitioner programs. Our government continues to push ahead and see positive results from our four-point health human resources action plan to recruit, train, incentivize, and retain over 1,000 health care professionals.

We have received applications and reached out to more than 600 internationally educated health care workers residing in Canada to get their training up to date and to get them working. Additionally 159 bursaries have been approved to support Saskatchewan students in health disciplines with their final clinical placement requirements, the highest since 2014. As of March 1st, nearly 100 new or enhanced permanent full-time positions posted in rural and remote areas experiencing service disruptions have been filled.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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