As Saskatchewan continues to experience a health-care staffing crunch, the provincial government plans to pony up $200,000 per physician in the hopes of of attracting them to work in rural and northern areas.

Starting April 1, the government will offer the incentive, with the full amount spread out over five years, to fill positions where recruitment has been a challenge.

That will be one of the most ambitious and aggressive rural physician incentive programs that you will find in the nation of Canada, Premier Scott Moe said while addressing delegates at the annual meeting of the Saskatchewa Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) taking place in Saskatoon.

The new incentive marks a significant increase over the previous incentive of $47,000 which the province was offering.

Another change to the program is that a physician must sign on for five years instead of four, a move the province hopes will incentivize retention, according to a news release.