NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has vowed to help end health-care wait times on Prince Edward Island by promising to build a medical faculty at UPEI.

P.E.I. is the only province in Canada without a medical school.

In a news release, Singh said he has spoken with P.E.I. Premier Dennis King about a federal partnership.

"P.E.I. residents shouldn't have to leave the province just to get care. When you're feeling sick, you shouldn't be forced to drive for hours to see a doctor. People deserve better," Singh said in the release.

During the 2019 provincial election NDP candidates Herb Dickieson and Joe Byrne, who is now the NDP's federal candidate in Charlottetown, said adding a medical faculty to UPEI would help P.E.I.'s health-care services.

We have to be prepared to do some things differently, and that's what the NDP is offering. This is something different. — Joe Byrne

Byrne said while health care is the responsibility of the province, it would need help from the federal government because the province can't afford to do this on its own.

"There needs to be federal involvement, and provincial involvement and there is likely a space for municipal involvement too. We need all levels of government to work together to solve this health-care crisis," Byrne said.

Nurse shortage, doctor retirement

The number of doctors considering retirement in the next five years is not sustainable for the Island health-care system, Byrne said.

He used Western Hospital as an example of the strain on the provincial system. The emergency room there has had to close several times recently because of staff shortages.

"We have to be prepared to do some things differently, and that's what the NDP is offering. This is something different," he said.

"This is not a short-term fix, it's a long-term fix and it is not the only one we need for our health."

Byrne also said setting up health hubs and extending mental-health care and addictions services would also help.

"This has to be part of that whole conversation, not just one simple fix," he said.

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