Yukon doctors push for rural medicine residency program [Video]

The Yukon Medical Association (YMA) is pushing for the territory to help develop a residency program for family doctors in rural communities.

The association, which represents the territory’s doctors, passed a resolution this past weekend at its annual general meeting, calling on the Yukon government to put “substantial additional funding” in its next budget for the program.

According to Dr. Derek Bryant, who took over as head of the YMA on the weekend, it would be a way to increase the number of doctors working in the territory.

“We would be planting a seed that would bear fruit in the future,” Bryant said. “I think five years from now, if we don’t plant the seed, we’ll be looking back and wondering where all the fruit is.”

According to a recent report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the proportion of Yukoners who have access to a “regular health care …