Kelowna

Student doctors will soon get to complete their medical training in the Okanagan with the official opening of a new $32-million health centre.

The province says the Reichwald Health Sciences Centre at UBC's Okanagan will accommodate 32 first-year medical students, bringing the number of first-year medical students in the province to 288. 

“Students tend to practice where they're trained,” said Premier Christy Clark, who attended the official opening Thursday morning, “and now student doctors can complete their entire medical undergraduate program right here in the Okanagan."

Photo: Grant Scott

The 4,266-square-metre facility, a $32.7-million investment by the BC Government created to house the Southern Medical Program, features high-tech classrooms; lecture theatres networked with three other medical program locations in Vancouver, Victoria, and Prince George; teaching and research labs; and a human kinetics lab.

“This innovative and purpose-built facility provides state-of-the-art teaching and research space for our faculty and students...will ultimately enable them to make meaningful contributions to the health and medical fields,” says Deborah Buszard, deputy vice-chancellor and principal of UBC's Okanagan campus.

Medical students will spend their studies between the Health Sciences Centre at the Okanagan campus and at the Clinical Academic Campus at Kelowna General Hospital. Students also receive clinical training at other hospitals in the region, including Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, Vernon Jubilee Hospital, and Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail. 

Robyn Buna, a second-year student, says, "I am grateful to have the opportunity to complete my medical education in the Interior. It's exciting to be a part of a new program and to learn alongside a medical community that is truly enthusiastic about teaching students." 

The province says Reichwald features a green roof and “several strategies for energy and water conservation.”