More Funding for Cape Breton Medical School Campus

Nova Scotia’s second medical school campus is on track to open in the fall of 2025 with 30 seats for first-year medical students, with a focus on practising in rural Nova Scotian communities.

The Province will fund operations at the Cape Breton University (CBU) site – a partnership with Dalhousie University’s faculty of medicine – for two years. It will also fund five additional medical school seats at Dalhousie starting this fall.

“We’re moving fast to address the needs of Nova Scotians, and we’ve made a lot of progress in just one year to deliver on our promise to fix healthcare,” said Premier Tim Houston. “A second medical school campus will make a big difference in improving access to care with more doctors for all Nova Scotians, and especially for those in rural parts of the province.”

The Province announced the new state-of-the-art campus for CBU in March 2023. A new medical sciences building will be the cornerstone of the campus, which will train family doctors with a special focus on rural health issues including aging, frailty and disease prevention, as well as Indigenous health and African Nova Scotian health. CBU’s health and counselling centre will become a key clinical training facility and address the increased demand for healthcare among students.

These projects will advance Action for Health, the Province’s plan to improve and transform healthcare in Nova Scotia, by investing in education and training opportunities to ensure the health needs of communities are met.

Quotes:

“Cape Breton University’s new medical campus is a great example of healthcare transformation in action. With this project, we’re investing in our present and our future: we’ll be able to connect more Nova Scotians to the care they need in the short-term, while training the next generation of rural family doctors in a state-of-the-art, modern facility.”
— Brian Comer, Minister of Addictions and Mental Health and MLA for Cape Breton East, on behalf of Brian Wong, Minister of Advanced Education

“We are thankful that the Province of Nova Scotia recognizes and is swiftly addressing the healthcare needs of Nova Scotians, and we are thrilled that our priorities align in this manner. With a focus on family medicine and rural medicine, the Cape Breton medical campus will provide training that will greatly benefit the healthcare needs of many communities of Nova Scotians, including Indigenous and African Nova Scotian communities.”
— David Dingwall, President and Vice-Chancellor, Cape Breton University

Quick Facts:

• the Department of Advanced Education will determine a longer-term funding model to support the medical school once it has been operating for one year
• in March 2023, the Province announced a $58.9-million investment to develop the campus, including $49 million for the medical sciences building and related infrastructure, $6.2 million for a new collaborative care clinic and $3.7 million to expand the health and counselling centre
• the Province is investing $11.6 million for operational costs for the next two years, as well as $1.5 million to support the five additional seats at Dalhousie

Additional Resources:

News release – Funding, Plans for New Medical School Campus in Cape Breton: https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2023/03/07/funding-plans-new-medical-school-campus-cape-breton

Action for Health: https://novascotia.ca/actionforhealth

Cape Breton University medical campus: https://cbumedcampus.ca/

Dalhousie University faculty of medicine: https://medicine.dal.ca/