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The head of pediatrics for the Saskatchewan Health Authority says he wants to staff the province’s new children’s hospital with “the best of the best” — physicians trained in Canada.

“I’m really looking for Canadian-trained physicians,” Dr. Laurentiu Givelichian said.

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“I’m very interested to bring the best physicians I can and that they are trained here in Canada, they are very familiar with the Canadian system and they will be very easily integratable into the existing structure.”

The Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital is scheduled to open at Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital in the fall of 2019. According to the Saskatchewan Health Authority, the province hopes to fund 70 full-time-equivalent pediatric positions in more than 20 specialties by the time the hospital opens.

By March, the hospital had 52 full-time-equivalent positions in place and had made offers to at least two other pediatric specialists. Givelichian said the hospital is “on target” to have a full complement of pediatricians and pediatric specialists in place by the end of 2019.