In a bid to increase the number of doctors and nurses practising in rural and remote areas, the federal government announced Tuesday it would increase forgivable loans for some students.

Canada is in the throes of a severe doctors shortage — an issue that is only expected to get worse as the population grows and physicians retire en masse. Federal data suggests Canada will need roughly 48,900 more family doctors by 2031.

As CBC News has previously reported, the number of medical residency spots has been stagnant for the last decade, which has limited the number of new doctors entering the field.

There’s also a tangle of