Ontario’s doctors say new medical school spots are one piece of the puzzle to fix the crisis in family medicine

TORONTO, April 3, 2024—Ontario’s doctors, represented by the Ontario Medical Association, welcome the new medical school at York University as one part of a long-term strategy to meet the health-care needs of the province and fix the family doctor shortage.

Currently, 2.3 million Ontarians do not have a family physician. The Ontario Medical Association approves of the school’s focus on family medicine for communities that are underserved. Ontario’s doctors have been advocating for an increase in the number of medical student and residency positions for some time. It was one of the recommendations to fix the gaps in our health-care system in our Prescription for Ontario.

“The OMA supports the expansion of medical education and is pleased to see the creation of the York University School of Medicine,” said OMA President Dr. Andrew Park. “But this is one piece of the puzzle. We can’t just train and recruit our way out of the crisis in family medicine – we need to make the system better so family doctors want to keep practicing.”

The OMA has warned that system-level solutions are needed including ensuring compensation keeps pace with inflation and reducing the burden of unnecessary administration to enable doctors to spend time caring for patients. The OMA is committed to ongoing work with the government to tackle these issues.  

“A huge increase in immigration, physicians retiring or changing practice models, and rising inflationary pressures is creating the perfect storm in family medicine,” said OMA CEO Kimberly Moran. “We need to work together – doctors, health-care workers, stakeholders and government to build the system Ontario deserves.”