A commentary by a Victoria resident.

Island Health’s plan to save $60 million by reducing non-contract staff has made headlines.

There is a much larger and politically inconvenient ­opportunity to save millions more and strengthen our ­health-care system — one that no government, university or medical school in British ­Columbia is willing to confront.

We require would-be physicians to complete a three- to four-year undergraduate degree before entering medical school.

Many of the world’s most respected health systems, including those in the U.K., Netherlands, Sweden, France and Germany, train doctors through direct-entry programs, which begin immediately after secondary school.

These programs graduate physicians years earlier and at far lower cost to students and the health system.

Some European medical ­systems combine science and clinical training in a single six-year curriculum, allowing graduates to enter practice three to four years sooner. Others allow entry into medical school directly from high school graduation.

These students avoid tens of thousands of dollars in tuition and living expenses that an extra undergraduate degree imposes.

By contrast, the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University require........

© Times Colonist