Good news for Ontario’s strained health-care system: a new medical school is set to open in the GTA this year.
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) is poised to open its new medical school in Brampton, Ont., in September. The first class will include 94 undergraduates and 105 postgraduates (also known as residents).
Every student will be Canadian, most from Ontario, said TMU President Mohamed Lachemi. He said the goal is to welcome a diverse group of future doctors, with the hope many will opt to stay and work in Brampton.
“We know that Brampton is one of the most culturally-diverse and fast growing cities in the country, but also its residents regularly experience challenges with access to primary care,” Lachemi told CBC Toronto.
There were 2.5 million Ontarians without a family doctor as of July last year. Funding new medical schools is one part of the Ford government’s plan to deal with the issue, which has dogged them during their time in office.
Long-established research has found people without a regular family physician have greater reliance on emergency rooms and are more likely to end up hospitalized.
“The world needs more people who are generalists,” said Teresa Chan, dean of the new medical school.
Specialists in family medicine, emergency medicine and general pediatrics form the first line of defence against illness, she said.
But fewer medical school graduates are choosing family medicine. In April, the president of the Ontario Medical Association noted that funding issues and the burden of administrative work are deterring students.
“We need to think about how we can engage a large berth of people to … enjoy generalism [and] be inspired by it,” Chan said.
Part of TMU’s approach is to include modern insights about education and health care, she said. The school plans to include lessons from the post-pandemic period and incorporate machine learning and generative AI into the curriculum.
More applications received than expected in first round
TMU’s medical school received around 6,500 applications in its first round — 1,500 more than expected, said Dominick Shelton, the school’s interim assistant dean for admissions and recruitment.
The school will look at other elements beyond academics, “whether it be through their personal attributes [or] initiatives that they’ve been involved in,” Shelton said.
Applicants do not need a science background to apply to the school, and there is no prerequisite undergraduate coursework.
The Ontario government announced funding for a new medical school at York University. However, as CBC’s Patrick Swadden reports, doctors and advocates in the medical community are not confident that more training will solve the province’s primary care crisis.
The school also has a partnership with the Peel District School Board, targeting students from groups that are underrepresented in health care, according to a news release. This partnership will create a “pipeline” for future students, Shelton said.
The admissions website originally said 75 per cent of spots would be reserved for “equity-deserving admissions pathways,” according to a report in The Eyeopener, TMU’s independent student newspaper.
People who qualify under this pathway include members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, people who have lived in poverty, racialized people and those who have faced familial or socio-cultural barriers.
But this reference to reserved admission spots is no longer there. In a news release in November, Lachemi said “aspirational language” on the website was removed after causing confusion.
“We have no quotas and there have never been quotas around who we will accept,” Lachemi wrote.
Still, prospective students can apply to the school through the equity-deserving pathway. There are also separate Indigenous and Black admissions pathways.
Currently, TMU’s medical school is undergoing renovations before welcoming its first cohort of students.
The City of Brampton donated the former Bramalea Civic Centre to the school and provided funds to help with some construction, Chan said.
What was once the centre’s library will now be, in part, the school’s medical library.
“I’m hoping kids that grew up here getting their library books will become the kids that come here with their big backpacks … to study for the medical school some day,” Chan said.
