Ontario is increasing access to medical specialists — like surgeons and psychiatrists — by creating 75 specialty residency positions at the province’s medical schools.

The new post-graduate specialty residency positions will ensure that Ontarians have access to more highly skilled specialists, which are in growing demand across the province. The new postgraduate specialty spaces will be phased in over five years. The first residents will start training in the summer of 2011.

With today’s announcement the number of postgraduate specialty training positions will have increased by more than 80 per cent since 2003. 

Training more doctors is part of the government’s Open Ontario Plan to provide more access to health care services while improving quality and accountability for patients.