British Columbia connects one million residents to primary care

The British Columbia government announced that one million residents have been connected to a family doctor or nurse practitioner since 2018. This milestone is part of a provincial initiative launched to improve access to primary care closer to home.

Currently, approximately 80% of the province's population, or about 4.47 million people, have access to a primary care provider. Despite this progress, roughly 20% of the population—estimated at over 1.1 million people—still lack a regular doctor.

To address the remaining gap, the province is focusing on training, recruiting, and retaining healthcare providers. This includes the operation of the Health Connect Registry, which currently has more than 320,000 people registered to be matched with a provider. Additionally, the government recently welcomed the first group of 48 students to British Columbia's new medical school.