When young Prince Edward Islanders leave the province to study medicine -- most never return. The province faces a serious shortage of doctors. But a proposed remedy is causing the students a real pain.

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Part Two of The Current

PEI: No medical college and a shortage of doctors - Medical student

We started this segment with Joanne Reid, a Prince Edward Islander studying medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax. She is reading part of a letter she and two other medical students from PEI wrote last month to the provincial branch of the Canadian Medical Association.

They and other PEI medical students training in other provinces are seeing red - over something called a mandatory return of service agreement.

The PEI Government wants to pass a measure requiring all PEI students studying at Memorial University's Faculty of Medicine in St. John's, Newfoundland to return home to PEI for at least three years after graduation.

It's a regulation that Canada's smallest province hopes will help solve its chronic shortage of doctors. While it would apply specifically to PEI students studying in Newfoundland, other PEI students worry that return of service agreements could spread to other medical schools.

Lindsay Ward is from Summerside, Prince Edward Island. She's a second year student at Memorial University's Faculty of Medicine, and she joined us from our studio in St. John's, Newfoundland.

PEI: No medical college and a shortage of doctors - PEI Health Minister

The Health and Wellness Minister for the Government of Prince Edward Island has been listening in on this discussion . Doug Currie joined us from our CBC studio in Charlottetown.

PEI: No medical college and a shortage of doctors - Dean, Medical school

We requested an interview with a representative from the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University. Officials there are not commenting on this matter for now.

Enticing doctors to under serviced areas is always an issue in a country this big. And the dispute is being watched closely at the University of Saskatchewan.

William Albritton is the Dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. He joined us from Saskatoon.

This half-hour segment was produced by The Current's Howard Goldenthal and St. John's Producer, Heather Barrett.

Related Links:

• Medical students should return to P.E.I.: minister - CBC News
• P.E.I. med students decry 'crude' tactics that could force them to practice on the island By: Tom Blackwell - National Post
• News Release Canadian Federation of Medical Students: Medical Students Stand Opposed to PEI's Mandatory Return-of-Service Agreements (PDF)
• Prince Edward Island attracts new physicians - Press Release
  

Other segments from today's show:

• Friends of Syria meeting
• The future of submarines in Canada's navy