The community of St. Walburg, Sask., says if has an idea that may help retain doctors in rural parts of the province.

Town officials want the province to forgive up to $100,000 in medical student loans for graduating doctors, with the condition that they practice in a rural area for five years.

St. Walburg will introduce the idea as a resolution at the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association convention, which gets underway Sunday evening.

"The issue that we always face as a rural community is shortage of doctors,"said Leah Mullis, the town's administrator.

"We'll recruit and we'll get some doctors to come in," she said. "Usually within anywhere from three months to a year they're off to the bigger centres."

Mullis said the idea is meant to get people talking about possible solutions addressing doctor shortages in rural communities.

Currently the province has the Graduate Retention Program, which allows people who graduated after 2006 to claim a tuition refund of up to $20,000 if they live in Saskatchewan.

The province said it is looking into an initiative similar to the St. Walburg proposal.

St. Walburg is located about 150 kilometres northwest of North Battleford.