Column: Academic Status of Grant North Medical School

It’s the best way to protect him from chaos at Laurentian University, advocates say

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The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) was created to address the physician shortage in the North. It was incorporated as an autonomous legal entity and has independent finance, administration and its own board of directors.

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Yet this proven strategy still relies on Laurentian University and Lakehead University to award its degrees.

In light of what is happening at Laurentian University, why is the government not taking action to protect NOSM and ensure it continues to thrive as an independent and viable medical school in the world? North?

As champions of establishing NOSM, we recall the momentum across the North to come together and find a solution to the disparities in health care that would benefit future generations.

There was an emergence of broad political support and indigenous organizations for the idea of ​​creating the new medical school. Since that time, NOSM has partnered with more than 90 Northern Ontario communities in an award-winning distributed learning model that connects our vast region.

It has trained 714 physicians and 579 residents who have completed NOSM programs, more than half of these health professionals practicing in the North.

NOSM develops its own curriculum, is responsible for its own accreditation, has its own faculty, recruits its own students – in all respects NOSM is our medical university for the North.

So why is its fate limited by the formality of its construction?

None of us would have predicted this when NOSM was founded 16 years ago, but we cannot stand idly by and watch a critical health care strategy derail because it is not. not really autonomous.

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We know the government must recognize the positive impact that NOSM has had in Northern Ontario. We call on the government to step in and grant university status to NOSM so that it can flourish in its mandate of social responsibility and address critical health disparities in the North.

– Jim Gordon is both the former Mayor of the City of Greater Sudbury and MLA for Sudbury and Minister of Government Services. Gordon was the past chair of the Implementation Management Committee which provided the business and budget plan to set up the NOSM. In 2014, Gordon was named a Member of the Order of Canada.

– Ken Boshcoff is the former Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-Rainy River and Mayor of Thunder Bay. He has also served as President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and President of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA).

– Angèle Brunelle is Executive Director of L’Accueil francophone de Thunder Bay. She has dedicated her life to promoting the Francophone community of Northwestern Ontario, defending the rights of Francophones in the health and education sectors.

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