The newly-elected president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association believes one of his largest tasks is addressing issues surrounding rural health in the province.

Dr. Eben Strydom says one of those issues is providing access to care by finding solutions to systemic problems that limit these services.

He says one factor is that the number of doctors in rural settings is decreasing.

“I think that’s one of our challenges is the number of doctors that are available to provide services, not only rural, but also in the cities and bigger towns,” said Strydom. “I hear my colleagues voice the same concerns.”

Strydom added there are training programs used more widely to give pre-grad medicine students more opportunities to train in rural areas.