The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Tom Osborne, Minister of Health and Community Services:

Speaker, I rise in this Honourable House today to recognize the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University for its work matching medical students with family medicine in rural communities.

The faculty is the 2024 recipient of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada Rural Medical Education Award, which is presented to a Canadian medical school that matches the most graduates to rural family medicine residency programs.

Memorial led the country by matching 71 per cent of its graduates in 2023 to a rural family medicine residency.

Dr. Lyn Power, an assistant professor at the faculty who practices on the Burin Peninsula, was also honoured with the Rural Long Service Award.

The award recognizes physicians who serve in rural Canadian communities for 20 or more years. Dr. Power was also recognized as Fellow of Rural and Remote Medicine, which is presented to physicians with expertise in rural medicine in Canada.

We are proud of the faculty’s and Dr. Power’s work and dedication to practicing medicine in rural regions.

Speaker, through our support of the faculty, investments to increase seats for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and investments in recruitment and retention, we are excited about the future of physicians practicing in rural communities.

I ask all members to join me in congratulating the faculty and Dr. Power for these accomplishments.