A stand-alone medical school for Brandon University may not be realistic, but the findings of the Brandon Medical Education Study to increase training of doctors in rural environments is encouraging, said Ross Tycoles, chairman of the Assiniboine Municipal Health Committee.

“Honestly, I think all along (a satellite medical school in Brandon) was their plan,” Tycoles said. “Im disappointed that the stand-alone school didnt come through, but the fact is the satellite school will help and it will address the concerns rural communities have.”

His view was shared by Brandon University president Deborah Poff, who called the study “a small step in the right direction.”

“It doesnt surprise me that there would be no recommendation for an independent medical school,” Poff said. “Given the context in Manitoba, I knew that was a long shot beyond belief and I had said that to a lot of people. The satellite school is a half step in that direction.”

Poff said her disappointment with the report rests on a conservative implementation schedule of the findings, which includes more residencies in later years of the four-year medical school program and community campuses with teaching units geared towards practising medicine in rural areas.

The provincial government stated in a press release that six residencies were already planned for Brandon, Steinbach and the Boundary Trails Hospital between Morden and Winkler this year and the study called for more next year. A satellite campus of the University of Manitobas medical school in Brandon is listed as a possibility, if more students need to be accepted in the future.

“I think it will take a long while unless theres the political will within the implementation committee to move a little faster,” Poff said.

“In every province where this has been happening, which is now the majority of provinces, its taken some political will and commitments. The recommendations are not bad, just extremely slow in terms of the time horizon.”

Tycoles said the study recognized the “problem that has always been around” and dealt with those issues, but Dr. Derry Decter, a proponent for training doctors in rural communities, said the study doesnt go far enough, or fast enough to deal with the doctor shortages faced by rural and northern residents.

“There is a bit of a red herring in there,” Decter said.

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