By Dr. Melissa Forgie, Interim Dean, and Dr. Claire Kendall, Associate Dean, Social Accountability, Faculty of Medicine
This opinion piece first appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, November 4, 2025.
Too many Ottawa families don’t have a family doctor, and life’s daily challenges can quickly become much more complex without this vital connection to the healthcare system.
These realities were at the forefront of discussions as the City’s Finance and Corporate Services Committee recently considered Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s proposed Primary Care Action Plan, which calls for a net increase of 270 primary care providers.
Rideau-Vanier Councillor Stephanie Plante raised issues around the obstacles facing residents in her ward who struggle to navigate the healthcare system while they fight to make ends meet and balance other family responsibilities.
And they aren’t alone. In fact, several Ottawa neighbourhoods have among the highest concentrations of residents without a primary care provider in Ontario, and across the region, more than 200,000 people are living this reality.
There is no getting around the basic math that we need to do all we can to attract and retain many more family doctors to our region, and research findings show that students are more likely to provide care in areas where they grew up. In fact, the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine has been steadily increasing regional representation since 2024. By 2026, up to 70 per cent of our new medical students in both the Anglophone and Francophone streams will have completed high school in the Ottawa area, including our nearby rural and Indigenous communities.
By intentionally selecting a greater number of students from the communities of our region, we are ensuring medical graduates possess a stronger and more nuanced understanding of the social and cultural realities that shape the lives of their future patients.
The Faculty’s new regional stream also benefits students as training closer to home means being near family and community supports during the most demanding years of medical school. It can ease financial pressures and make medical education more accessible, and we know that students who graduate with less debt are more empowered to choose where and how they practise, including in family medicine.
This new regional approach to training medical students is backed by data and driven by on-the-ground experience in the communities we serve. While it is by no means the only measure we are taking to help address the imposing challenges ahead, it is a powerful step forward toward improving access to primary care in our region.