N.S. offers retirement fund top-ups for doctors, hoping they'll stick around

The Nova Scotia government is offering to pay up to $15,000 a year into a new retirement benefits program for doctors in hopes the public money will keep more physicians in the province.

Premier Tim Houston announced the new program Wednesday, saying the annual contributions will be available to Nova Scotia's roughly 3,000 doctors at an estimated cost to the province of up to $22 million for the 2024 tax year, with that number expected to grow as more physicians sign on.

The annual retirement benefit top-ups were cited by Houston as evidence his party is fulfilling an election platform promise to create a "retirement fund" for doctors.

He said the new program is designed to "recognize the high cost of establishing a practice coming right out of [medical] school," and to retain doctors as they settle into careers.

"We're not just competing with other provinces. We're competing with the rest of the world, and our recruitment and retention efforts must reflect that," said the premier, noting that British Columbia has a similar program.

Dr. Gehad Gobran, president of Doctors Nova Scotia, said during a news conference that the program is expected to attract new physicians because in the first five years of practice they can receive $5,000 annually from the government to put toward their retirement savings without making matching contributions. After five years, they must start making contributions to receive the public top-up.

Doctors who have practised between five and 15 years can receive up to $10,000 annually, if they've put in matching funds, while doctors with over 15 years of practice can receive up to $15,000 annually, provided they've contributed that amount.

"We've been waiting for this a long, long time ... this will really help in hiring and retaining physicians here in Nova Scotia," Gobran said.

Asked what independent evidence exists that retirement programs result in retaining doctors, Gobran replied, "I'm not sure about the evidence as such, but I will tell you that when I started here years ago, I didn't do any contribution to retirement."

"When residents graduate, they have a lot to pay on their tuition fees and they don't pay attention to their [retirement] pension. So having the support of the government, I think that's a great thing," Gobran said.

Dana MacKenzie, deputy minister of health, said during a briefing on Wednesday that she didn't know of independent studies that indicate retirement funding is likely to retain and attract doctors.

However, she said the department believed the new program would attract doctors as "these retirement funds [for doctors] aren't pervasive across the country," other than in British Columbia.

The Progressive Conservatives have made health care their prime focus over the past four years, but as of this June, there were still 160,000 people on a waitlist for primary care.

Houston said the retirement contributions were just one among several measures aimed at reducing the doctor shortages. He cited a recent announcement that the province will create a new assessment centre for foreign-trained doctors to speed up their certification, with the aim of bringing in 45 more physicians a year. In addition, the province has announced that Cape Breton University will open a medical school, with up to 30 new physicians graduating each year.