I rise in this House today to inform the people of Newfoundland and Labrador of our recent success in recruiting physicians to work in our province.

I am pleased to say that in a six-month period from March 31 to September 30 we had a net gain of 40 physicians spread throughout various areas of our province. As of September 30, there were 1,029 physicians in active practice in Newfoundland and Labrador � the most in our province�s history.

This success can be attributed to a combination of factors including our $7 million investment this year in physician recruitment and retention, the diligent work of the Provincial Physician Recruitment Office, and the excellent work of Memorial University�s Faculty of Medicine in helping us retain medical graduates.

Of these 40 new physicians, 17 are recent graduates of Memorial�s Family Medicine Program. A good proportion of these physicians are practising in rural areas, including Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Baie Verte, Port aux Basques and Bonne Bay. This news means greatly enhanced access to physician care for thousands of residents in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Almost all of the 17 family medicine physicians who graduated from Memorial received family practice bursaries, which see a physician providing one year of service for every $25,000 bursary received. The bursaries awarded to this group will result in 31 years of family practice service for the province.

I am also pleased to announce today that we have approved all 63 eligible applicants for the three medical bursary programs for this fiscal year. 28 of these physicians will start practice in our province as early as next summer.

Our government understands the tremendous value in training more of our own people to build up our physician workforce. We know that over 80 per cent of Memorial medical graduates who we recruit stay for at least five years.

It is with these key facts in mind that we committed to the expansion of Memorial University�s Faculty of Medicine with an investment of $15 million in capital. We also committed $11.75 million in new annual operating funding to increase the number of spaces for Newfoundland and Labrador medical students by 10 per cent in the coming year and 30 per cent within the next five years.