New Brunswick's first French-language medical school program began welcoming students in Moncton this week for its inaugural year of classes.

The program is a joint project between the Université de Sherbrooke and the Université de Moncton, with the Quebec school issuing the degrees and hospitals in Moncton providing much of the training.

It is the only Canadian medical program offered entirely in French outside of Quebec.

The program's first 24 students were ushered into their first class by a group of Acadian singers and New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord.

Université de Moncton president Yvon Fontaine says the French-language school should help recruit and retain doctors for Acadian parts of the province, which have struggled to maintain health services for French-speaking residents.

"It's been a dream for a lot of people in this community for a long time to make sure we can train our doctors in New Brunswick," Fontaine said.

One of those future doctors, Moncton-native Jennifer Meloche, says there are advantages to training at home.

"For me, it didn't make a difference because medicine is what I wanted to do, but it sure helped things," she said. "I like it here because my family is here, my friends are here, and this city is what I'm used to."

Fellow student Louis Leblond say he's "definitely staying in New Brunswick" to work in the provincial health-care system after he graduates. 

"As far as a career or specializing, I'm not sure," Leblond said, "but I really think I'd like to get my hands dirty [doing] some sort of surgery work."

The idea for a French-language medical program was raised in a federal government report into health care more than 40 years ago. The report suggested building medical schools in Newfoundland, at McMaster University in Hamilton, at Sherbrooke in Quebec and in Moncton.

All four schools are now offering medical degrees.

The New Brunswick government says it's now working on creating a medical program for English-speaking students in Saint John.