“I was a doctor back home.”
“I’m writing my exams to get my licence here.”
“It’s been three years since I practised last.”
“Seven years.”
“Ten.”
We’ve heard it countless times over the last few years — from close family friends to people we meet through our work or even on a taxi ride home — and every time we’re disappointed this is the experience of so many internationally trained physicians in our country.
The foreign credentialing issue has been a concern since well before the COVID-19 health crisis. It’s disheartening that even with a pandemic in full swing, Canada is still not leveraging one of its most valuable assets: the skills and experience of thousands of doctors.
Ontario alone has 13,000 physicians and 6,000 nurses who were trained outside of Canada. Many of them immigrated here with hopes of contributing their medical expertise to the health-care system. Unfortunately, their dreams have been hampered by systemic barriers such as exorbitant testing fees, challenges obtaining insurance and, in the case of physicians, a dismally low number of available residency spots.
