How to keep more Internationally trained medical workers

NL Health Matters by Mardi Collins

Canada is last in the ratings of countries with universal health care due to killer wait times. And wait times are all about having enough doctors.

We train half the doctors per year of other countries, and we now have a shortage of 23,000 family doctors. It is impossible to close that gap with Canadian trained doctors.

It is estimated that we have about 25,000 internationally trained doctors in Canada, which is more than the number we lack, but most will never be licensed and many will leave the country after a few years of futile attempts to qualify.

Only 10 per cent of internationally trained physicians qualify – why? Expensive, time consuming and impossible barriers have been set by provincial licensing bodies. These barriers include costly and time-consuming examinations and credential verification, limited residency spots, work requirements that are impossible to fulfill and systemic bias against internationally trained medical workers.

These medical workers are often coming from unstable or dangerous countries. They must sell all their belongings and move their families, with limited financial resources to a strange country that they do not understand. Many will struggle with the language and it will take time for them to understand our systems. It is a costly, difficult and frightening challenge based on hope for a better future.

But most developing countries have a few world class facilities and often those workers are the ones that immigrate. In these top tier hospitals, their experience, training and facilities are superior to that in our hospitals.  

Study after study has proven that only the brightest, the best and the most motivated people will risk a major international move. So, they come to our country very determined to meet all challenges. 

But often it turns out to be a great disappointment. Studies show that a number of the best educated immigrants leave Canada within five to seven years of immigrating. And they leave with a very negative impression of Canada. As a result, Canada now has a challenge in attracting medical workers because of our negative reputation for certification.

The fact is we need them much more than they need us.

The goal should be to bring workers into our system, rather than keep them out.  We need to develop systems that utilize as many of these workers as possible and provide an ongoing pathway to full certification. If a doctor cannot qualify immediately, certify them as a paramedic. Similarly, if a nurse cannot fully qualify, certify her as a nurse assistant, but provide employment and an ongoing pathway to certification. Ensuring employment in our facilities has many benefits. It will strengthen their English capability and allow them to become more familiar with our methods of treatment and practice standards.

This is the single most important change we can make to meet the needs of our health care program. There is no other source of medical workers as great as internationally trained staff.  Without this, we will never overcome killer wait times. By welcoming them into our system, we have a very real opportunity to double the number of available physicians each year, and you will finally be able to get a family doctor.

Please send your concerns or ideas to mardicollins7@gmail.com