Province expedites process for doctors

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This article was published 25/07/2023 (1044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A recruiting firm has been hired by the Manitoba government with the goal of bringing 150 doctors to health-care regions in province, including Prairie Mountain Health (PMH).

Faced with a physician shortage, Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced the search for a firm to find doctors in April.

The province has contracted the Toronto-based company Canadian Health Labs to assist with recruitment, according to Gordon, who made the announcement in Winnipeg on Monday.

“Family physicians play an integral role in the health-care system, providing ongoing longitudinal care for patients across the continuum of community, hospital and long-term care, with a focus on preventative care, including the detection of early warning signs of medical concerns,” Gordon said during the news conference.

Of the potential 150 physicians coming to Manitoba, 50 doctors will be assigned to three health regions including Prairie Mountain Health, Interlake, and Southern Health regions, 50 will be allocated for the Northern region, while the other 50 are for Winnipeg.

The announcement is another positive step in collaborative efforts to recruit physicians to the province and region, said Brian Schoonbaert, the CEO of Prairie Mountain Health.

Over the next few weeks, Schoonbaert added, they will be reviewing the details within the announcement and look forward to success with the recruitment and retention of physicians to all communities.

“PMH has many needs, and some of the aspects taken into consideration when placing physicians include the impacts on primary physicians and hospital services currently being impacted the most by shortages,” Schoonbaert said in an email to The Sun.

Additionally, Gordon announced regulatory changes to come into effect Sept. 1 that will remove barriers for family doctors and specialists from other countries and make it easier for them to work in the province.

Internationally educated physicians who meet all other registration requirements will no longer be required to hold a licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada to practise in Manitoba.

A licentiate is a qualification in medicine and is in the set of requirements physicians need to meet to apply for a full licence to practise medicine independently in Canada.

The requirement can be safely removed, Gordon added, because specialists and family physicians can demonstrate their competency through the College of Family Physicians of Canada or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, or by completing the Manitoba practice assessment program.

“United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland have shown that provisional registration requirements such as assessment and supervision provided limited to no value. These physicians already have requisite experience from their home jurisdiction similar health education and training systems as our own right here in Canada.”

The current regulations delay and discourage qualified international medical graduates from practising in Manitoba, said Dr. Anna Ziomek, registrar for Manitoba’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, alongside Gordon during Monday’s announcement.

During public consultations, Ziomek said they heard from physicians who were international medical graduates who said Manitoba’s process was cumbersome, difficult and led to delays.

“We heard from Canadians who trained internationally and now would like to come back to Canada, and again, the process was too difficult for specialists to come back to Manitoba,” Ziomek said.

The changes will remove burdensome and unnecessary steps to obtaining a licence in Manitoba, said Dr. Michael Boroditsky, the president of Doctors Manitoba.

“This will mean well-qualified international medical graduates will be able to practise sooner, which will help to address Manitoba’s physician shortage,” Boroditsky stated in a news release.

The province would need 405 more doctors to be on par with the Canadian average of 246 physicians per 100,000 residents, according to a report released last year from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

The NDP’s critic for health care, Uzoma Asagwara, said the physician shortage is a result of the Progressive Conservatives cutting doctor recruitment programs and ignoring physicians’ concerns.

“Manitobans know the PCs’ real record when it comes to doctors,” Asagwara said. “Premier Stefanson will make election promises now that she never intends to keep.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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