British Columbia trains, recruits more allied health professionals

The province has announced it is funding 322 new health-care training seats at institutions around BC.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says two dozen seats for urgently needed medical lab assistants will be established at Vancouver Community College, Camosun College and Thompson Rivers University's open leaning program.

Advanced-care paramedics will get training at the Justice Institute of BC, while seats are also being fast-tracked for respiratory therapists at Thompson Rivers.

The government says intake for more than two-thirds of those seats will be for this fall, although some will start as early as this summer.