The Yukon government will invest $21.6 million into the territory's health care system over the next five years.

The announcement came from Health and Social Services Minister Brad Cathers on Wednesday afternoon.

The $4.3 million per year comes from the $150 million directed toward the North following the September 2004 First Ministers' Meeting that saw the establishment of the Territorial Health Access Fund.

'This funding demonstrates the federal government's recognition of the historic and unique challenges we face with the provision of health programming and services in the North,' said Cathers.

The money will be directed at enhancing Yukoners' access to primary care.

Federal criteria indicate the funding must be put toward building self-reliant capacity to provide services within the territory, strengthening community level access to services, and ensuring Yukon residents are able to make informed health decisions.

But the underlying indicative in the Yukon will be to address the territory's health professional shortages and develop a Health Human Resources Strategy.

Approximately $12.7 million of the funding will be directed at the doctor shortage.

There are approximately 70 doctors working in the territory, said Cathers, but not all of them practise full-time.

An established goal has not been set for the number of doctors needed in the territory, he said.

The need would be based on how many are wanting to work full-time, how many would prefer to practise part-time and the continued population growth of the territory over the next five years, he said.

'We can't concern ourselves with telling people if they should be a part-time doctor or a full-time doctor,' said Cathers. 'What we're going to do is improve the access to services to attract new doctors to address the capacity needs.

'We have a demand problem so we're working on getting the supply.'

The minister added family doctors will not be the sole focus of the initiative. Attracting health professionals, such as nurses, physiotherapists, radiologists, laboratory technicians and speech language pathologists will also be a goal.

'We need to make sure that we have a full range of health professionals to ensure that when Yukoners need those services, there are people here to provide them,' said Cathers.

A key component of the human resources strategy will be to offer debt repayment in exchange for a set number of years of service for graduates from Canadian medical schools.

Bursaries are also expected to be offered to Yukon students to assist and encourage them to attend medical school in Canada, said Cathers.

The focus will be to promote the 'Yukon advantage' to potential doctors, he said. That will likely mean tapping into tourism and cultural initiatives in the territory and developing a concrete promotion and advertising campaign.

The exact details of the plan have not yet been ironed out, but Cathers said it was important to put the information in front of the Yukon Medical Association and Yukoners.

NDP Leader Todd Hardy said today the ability to attract doctors is part of a larger-scale bidding war occurring on the national level.

Though this program may attract doctors for the time being, as richer provinces are able to offer more incentives, the Yukon will likely again be grappling with health shortages, said Hardy.

The provinces and territories really need to get together and develop a strategic plan on how to offer national incentives at a similar level, he said.

'This is not going to solve the problem,' said Hardy. 'The focus is too much on more dollars for more incentives. This will only be a temporary impact until someone ups the ante again.'

Cathers said, however, the goal is to now begin public discussion with organizations such as the territory's medical association.

'At this point, we have approved the funding, we have approved the work plan.... We're announcing this also to the public, because the issue of accessing family physicians and other health care professionals is of great concern to them,' he said.

The number of Yukon students who will be able to access the bursaries will be determined with the Yukon Medical Association's help, he said. He added further announcements on the program can be expected in July.

Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell said he was pleased the Yukon Party government is adopting a debt repayment program that his party has been proposing.

But the method of announcement is just an example of the government trying to continually re-announce programs and funding, said Mitchell.

Cathers made the announcement at a news conference. It will again be announced in the budget and again a couple of months down the road when the actual structure of the program has been more clearly established, said Mitchell.

'It's say it three times and get three times bang for your buck' style of government,' he said.

The announcement also included $1.6 million per year in money for the Medical Travel Fund.

'We will be using these funds to support Yukon residents, while we cover the increasing cost of medical travel,' said Cathers.

It currently costs about $13,000 for a medevac flight from Whitehorse to Vancouver.

Cathers said the exact announcement on how the Medical Travel Fund will be used will be made in the next three weeks.

The Star was unable to reach the Yukon Medical Association for comment on Cathers' plans by press time this afternoon.