Nova Scotia's health minister is blaming poor paperwork for a $2.5-million cut in funding to Dalhousie University's medical school.

Maureen MacDonald said the confusion will be cleared up as soon as possible and money will be forthcoming for the only medical school in the three Maritime provinces.

"It's extraordinarily complex and all of the paperwork wasn't necessarily done in the manner that maybe it should have been done on the part of government," she said.

Dalhousie learned of the funding cut to its doctor training program last month when the provincial budget was unveiled.

University officials continued to sound the alarm Tuesday, warning that the medical school could lose its licence to train doctors because of the eight per cent cut in its operating budget.

"We fully support a long-term review of the medical school’s funding," Tom Marrie, the school's dean, wrote in a memo to students and staff.

"But a cut to our operating budget before that review, and at a time when we are faced with significant accreditation challenges, will be catastrophic."

Stable funding needed

The medical school is already on probation over its inconsistent oversight of the curriculum. Dalhousie president Tom Traves said Canadian and U.S. accreditors wouldn't be pleased to hear about the funding cut.

"They obviously regard stable funding as an important component of the long-term future of the medical school. And obviously if we have to cut back on activities that in any way imperil the quality of the program, then this could affect the outcome of this external accreditation process," said Traves.

Traves said the medical school is caught between two government departments: Health and Education. He said they both seem confused about how much money to hand over.

MacDonald said Health Ministry officials are working with the school to end the confusion.

"We absolutely are committed to maintaining the number of medical school seats that we have," she said, "and we want to have a much more transparent and accountable funding formula in place."