Med School Benefits

A study shows the Northern Ontario School of Medicine is providing big economic and social boosts to the region.

The study was commissioned by the school which has campuses at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and Laurentian University in Sudbury.

The study shows about 37 (m) million dollars is spent by the school and its medical students annually.

And recirculation of the funds generates up to 82 (m) million dollars in communities which are involved in N-O-S-M programs.

Sudbury and Thunder Bay get most of the money but Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Timmins, Kenora and Sioux Lookout also benefit.

Board chairman Fred Gilbert notes one of the biggest benefits is that more doctors will stay in the region either as graduates or simply as doctors interested in teaching.