AIPSO fully supports the call by the CMA President, Dr. Collin-Nakai, for the government to find ways to foreign visa trainee spots. AIPSO has made such a call repeatedly over the years, as a simple solution to the bottleneck that now exists in access to residencies for IMDs. Most recently, I made this point in two television interviews and in a letter to the Toronto Star.

In Ontario some International Medical Doctors have exceeded the scores of those accepted into residency and yet still been denied access. The issue of only 200 IMDs being accepted into the system per year is not one of quality but of residency positions that have been sold to foreign doctors. Freeing up these sold residencies to IMDs who have passed the same exams as Ontario trained doctors is the shortest way to alleviate the shortage of doctors in Ontario.

A Further Proposal

AIPSO also would like the CMA and the governments to consider the use of restricted licenses and mentorship by senior physicians. This is a way of integrating qualified IMDs who have years of experience in their specialty to begin practice in Canada. Many of these experienced IMDs and specialists do not need a residency, but need some form of supervised entry into practice in Canada. The restricted license route will be less expensive to implement and will greatly help alleviate the shortage of family doctors and reduce the long wait times to see specialists.

Other jurisdictions are using this balanced approach and have attracted some of the best IMDs away from Ontario including four recently placed in Australia under restricted licensing.