Northern Medical Services Turns 25

Northern Medical Services Turns 25

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 15:03

A University of Saskatchewan program that provides doctors to the province’s north is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Northern Medical Services began in the early 1980s when the mines were shutting down around Uranium City and the population plummeted.

The outgoing director of the program, Dr. Peter Butt, says NMS always faces a challenge to provide a stability in services, both quality and quantity.

But says there is heavy competition internationally for the family medicine or general practice skill set that’s required for these positions — nothing they rely heavily on doctors from South Africa.

When Northern Medical Services began, it placed six family physicians in the north.

Today, there are 31.