We’ve been hearing recently how fewer people are considering family medicine as a profession.

But now we’re learning all of the province’s family medicine residency positions have been filled for the coming year, despite an ongoing crisis in primary care nationwide.

While medical leaders point to the improving trend of graduates choosing to train in family medicine, they caution that targeted reforms for the profession need to be made.

These include higher billing rates and lower administrative burdens.

Dr. Nadia Alam is a family physician and anesthetist in Georgetown, Ontario and a past president of the Ontario Medical Association.

She told Zoomer Radio’s Fight Back with guest host Jane Brown, it’s encouraging that these discussions are happening.

“This is extraordinary that medical schools, our educational, our academic institutions are speaking up and speaking to the experiences that frontline family docs, like myself, face every single day of our professional lives,” Dr. Alam explained, “And even during our off hours. This isn’t just about on hour work, this is about off hour work.”

Listen for the full conversation with Dr. Nadia Alam, Dr. Fahad Razak and Dr. Malcolm Moore by clicking here.

It’s expected that soon one in four Ontario residents will not have a family doc.