I’ve worked as a family doctor in Nova Scotia’s public health sector for a decade. These days, I’m at a collaborative health centre in Halifax that offers primary care, dental care, mental-health support and other services. I’ve been watching our provincial system inch closer and closer to collapse since I became a physician back in 2013. It’s a story that’s now common to most other provinces, but Nova Scotia has its own specific problems: 14 per cent of the people who live here have no family doctor and, worse, a quarter of our working physicians are older than 60.

Breaking records can be a good thing but patients aren’t impressed by the record number of people on Nova Scotia’s waitlist for a family doctor or nurse practitioner. As of March 1, there were 137,587 patients on the Need a Family Practice Registry — representing about 14 per cent of the province’s population.

Physicians across the country are calling for a national licensing system for Canadian doctors. Creeson Agecoutay explains.

The Nova Scotia Government announced $25-million for Saint Mary’s University Wednesday to create a health care data analytics diploma program. Funding will also be used to provide a “business administration program for health-care administrators, office directors and family doctors,” as well as expanding the university’s partnership with the Nova Scotia Community College to offer more combined education.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia is removing a requirement for U.S.-certified doctors wanting to practice in the province. Going forward, American-board certified doctors will be eligible to be fully licensed without having to write Royal College exams first.