(CBC) As emergency rooms in some rural areas of the province had to close this weekend due to staff shortages, some internationally trained doctors say barriers to practicing in Canada have forced them to seek a different career path. On Sunday, Interior Health announced that the South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver, BC, will be closed from noon to 6 p.m. On Friday, the emergency departments at Dr. Helmcken Memorial in Clearwater and Ashcroft Hospital and Community Health Center weekend. Honieh Barzegari, who earned her degree as a family doctor in Iran before immigrating to Canada, says she supports international medical graduates (IMGs) and a change in the province’s health care system to facilitate foreign-trained doctors. in BC “The system is set up to fail international medical graduates instead of enabling them to practice here,” Barzegari told CBC’s The Early Edition. On Friday, the emergency department at Dr. Helmcken Memorial in Clearwater, BC’s interior, closed for the weekend. (Indoor health) Barzegari said she moved to Canada knowing there should be opportunities to practice because of BC’s ongoing shortage of family doctors, but she didn’t know all the fees and time it would take. “The financial barrier is big because the exams are so expensive, and I also have to live and pay the bills,” she said. “The emotional hurdle of trying and failing and not being able to get the license is a big issue.” Barzegari now works as a director of clinical solutions at a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. The Canadian Citizenship Institute, which helps newcomers and people seeking citizenship, estimates there are thousands of foreign-trained doctors whose qualifications have allowed them to quickly seek Canadian citizenship, but provincial regulators refuse to recognize their credentials.
Stigma around international education
Valorie Crooks, a professor in the geography department at Simon Fraser University, says Canadian students who decide to get their medical training in another country don’t know what it takes to come back and practice medicine in Canada. “Many people who start out pursuing these schools as an option do not realize that they will actually return as an international medical graduate (IMG). “They should enter the medical profession in the same way as others who were trained internationally.” A health care worker is pictured in Vancouver, BC. in January. Some internationally trained doctors in the province say barriers to practicing in Canada have forced them to seek a different career. (Ben Nelms/CBC) He said that apart from all the qualifying tests and recognized medical degrees, there is a stigma surrounding students who decide to get medical training elsewhere. “One of the points raised is the concern about the quality of education at these institutions, so it creates a layer of stigma that some returning Canadians will have to deal with in addition to other barriers.” Crooks said many IMGs are “checked out” by the system simply because there isn’t enough capacity in the province’s health care system to allow them to practice. “The number of Canadians going abroad for medical school who want to come back and practice further limits the space available for those not born and raised in Canada.”
Add more places to stay
Rajkumar Vijendra Das, a family doctor in Vancouver, B.C., said he immigrated to Canada in 2010 from India after working as a doctor in his home country for more than five years. He said it took him about eight years to pass the qualifying exams and complete his residency before he could practice medicine — something that could have taken less time if he had been admitted to a residency sooner. “So I passed all the necessary tests and applied for residency. I applied all over Canada and was willing to go anywhere. I had the experience too, but I didn’t fit in.” He said he worked at a call center to save money to pay for the expensive exams IMGs must pass, which are offered only a few times a year. “Exams can be about $2,000 or more, and you have to do quite a few of them. I had to save up for that.” Das says he eventually returned to India to gain more clinical experience before returning to BC and reapplying for residency. A stretcher sits outside St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver in January 2021. The Institute of Canadian Citizenship estimates there are thousands of foreign-trained doctors whose qualifications have allowed them to quickly seek Canadian citizenship, but provincial regulators refuse to recognize their credentials. (Ben Nelms/CBC) “My employer gave me some time off and I was able to come back to India, but not everyone can because they have families to support,” he said. Das said more residency slots for IMGs in BC should be designated “UBC has 52 residency slots for IMGs,” he said. “So it becomes a lottery facility and it becomes so competitive, but if you had twice that number, then it would make sense.” The Canadian Resident Matching Service’s 2021 report shows that 325 international medical graduates were matched for residency from 3,365 matches. Das said he is one of the lucky ones who was able to pursue a career in medicine in Canada when so many others were forced to do something else. In March, the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons said a program designed to bring more foreign-educated doctors into BC’s medical profession had been delayed because of the pandemic’s impact on surgeries. The college said the new physician associate role could help address the province’s health care needs by allowing physicians who do not qualify for a full license to work under a physician’s supervision. The secretary of the college Dr. Heidi Oetter said once the program is up and running, it will help bring more doctors into the health care system in British Columbia.
