The provincial government is developing a Provincial Health Professional Recruitment and Retention Office, and has established a new Assistant Deputy Minister of Health Professional Recruitment position to help address the urgent need for doctors, nurses and other health professionals.

Premier Andrew Furey provided the update Tuesday following a recent meeting with the NL College of Family Physicians.

The new assistant deputy minister position was developed to establish what government calls meaningful strategies to address recruitment and retention in all health care professions.

The job posting will be up in the coming days.

Last week, the province announced that a tentative agreement had been reached with the NL Medical Association.

That tentative agreement has yet to be ratified.