While Canada faces a shortage of doctors, Ottawa announces an immigration wave for health workers
The federal government announced on Wednesday that it will use Canada’s immigration system to recruit more in-demand healthcare workers as the country grapples with a severe shortage of some professionals in the field, such as general practitioners.
At an event in Bedford, NS, Immigration Secretary Sean Fraser and Health Secretary Jean-Yves Duclos unveiled a new special “express access” stream for healthcare workers in the economic immigration program.
They said a message will soon be sent out to 500 foreign health workers inviting them to apply for permanent residency in Canada.
An additional 1,500 employees will receive an invitation next week – a staggered launch for a program that is expected to be well-adopted.
The invitations go to foreign doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, physical therapists and optometrists as part of a federal government effort to address a health care crisis that is, in large part, a personnel crisis.
The situation is dire. According to research by Angus Reid, an estimated six million Canadians do not have a primary care physician. Canada also has a shortage of specialists.
The doctor shortage is expected to be even more acute in five years’ time. Federal data suggests Canada will be short of some 44,000 physicians by 2028, including more than 30,000 general practitioners and general practitioners.
Canada is losing hundreds of qualified Canadian doctors trained abroad who are unable to practice because they find it difficult to obtain residency here due to a combination of red tape and bias.
“Health professionals have been working around the clock to provide world-class care to individuals in communities across Canada, but it’s no secret that our health system needs more employees to continue to deliver the quality care that people in Canada deserve,” Fraser said.
“In no sector is the shortage on the labor market greater than in healthcare,” says Duclos.
“Today’s announcement will facilitate, expedite and streamline the application for permanent residency and help improve recruitment efforts for healthcare professionals by bringing more qualified healthcare professionals to Canada.”
Fraser said Canada welcomed about 21,000 healthcare workers between 2017 and 2022 — just over 4,000 workers a year.
He said the goal now is to attract about 8,000 new health workers a year.
“This is a big change,” Fraser said. “We can do more and with this new tool we will do more. Healthcare is the number one concern for so many families.”
Although the government is determined to attract more immigrant health workers, this is not a panacea for what is wrong with the system.
Wednesday’s announcement does not address ongoing issues with the recognition of foreign degrees — something Ottawa also vowed to address with the provinces and territories.
Medical licensing is strictly a provincial responsibility, but the federal government has pledged more money to help streamline a cumbersome process.
Foreign-trained doctors can immigrate to Canada, but that doesn’t mean they can actually practice their profession.
As CBC News has reported, there are Canadian-born doctors who are trained abroad who can’t come home to practice because of a tangle of red tape that makes it difficult to get a license if you don’t have training attended a Canadian medical school.
The medical residency program is segregated, making it difficult for Canadian doctors who attended schools in countries such as Australia, Ireland and the UK to come home and slide into the entry-level work required to become licensed.
And for physicians who have already completed residency and work abroad, the months-long process of proving Canadian equivalence and having credentials verified acts as a serious deterrent.
To practice medicine in Canada, a foreign-trained physician must have a degree from an accredited medical school, complete a discipline-appropriate postgraduate course (a residency), pass an exam, and earn a “licenciate” from the Medical Council or Canada and be certified by examination by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) or the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC).
The relevant provincial or territorial board of physicians and surgeons then decides whether a candidate should be licensed.
This is a process that takes years and is expensive for the medical professionals involved.
“We will continue to work with provinces, territories and stakeholders to address the health care crisis by improving workforce planning, retention and streamlining of foreign credential recognition so that new health workers arriving in Canada can acquire their skills and expertise more quickly. can apply,” said Duclos.
