Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - August 2009
A new study shows that less foreign-trained doctors are practicing medicine in Canada now, compared to 35 years ago.
According to a recent report conducted by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, from 1972 to 2007 there has been an 11 percent drop in foreign-trained doctors working in Canada, from approximately 33 percent to just over 22 percent.
The study also showed a geographical shift in the countries of educational origin. In the 1970s most of Canada’s foreign-trained doctors came from Ireland and the United Kingdom, while in 2007 most came from South Africa and India.
Authors of the study cited many factors in the trend, such as the increased challenges in foreign credential recognition and the relicensing process for internationally-trained physicians. Canada has also been actively working to increase domestic medical programs. In the same 35 years, the number of Canadian medical school graduates has jumped 70 percent.
Medical professionals across the country are seeing immigration less and less as the solution to shortages in Canada’s health care industry. Ian Bowmer, executive director of the Medical Council of Canada, says that the answer lies in adjusting the system so that teams of health care workers (including both doctors and nurses) work together to deliver care.
Dr. Bourgeault, a Health Canada research chair as well as professor of health sciences at the University of Ottawa echoes these sentiments.
“We’ll always have immigration and we’ll always want to utilize the skills of people who come to Canada, but at the same time, we shouldn’t be actively recruiting or even passively recruiting,” said Bourgeault.
Source: Globe and Mail
