CARMS Match 2009
From the Canadian Medical Association Journal,
CMAJ • June 23, 2009; 180 (13). doi:10.1503/cmaj.09097
Link: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/180/13/E115?etoc&eaf (accessed June 23rd 2009)

A record 392 international medical graduates, up from the 2008 total of 353, were matched into resident programs in Canada, according to second-round match results released last month by the Canadian Resident Matching Service.

Applicants from Europe and Central America/Caribbean were the most successful, with one-third from each group succeeding in landing a resident spot, while overall there was a success rate of 24% among the 1653 international graduate applicants.

There were 236 dedicated positions for the international graduates in the 2009 match, up from 219 a year earlier, though 11 remained unfilled after the second round, according to the match service report.

Ontario funded 200 of the dedicated spots, double the number from 2005, says Wayne Oake, a director with HealthForceOntario, a marketing and recruitment agency launched in 2007 that counts about 5000 international medical graduates among its 7000 clients.

Oake said he knows of 102 of his agency’s clients who were matched after this year’s second round of the matching service.


AIPSO’s Comment

A residency match* success rate of only 24% among the 1653 qualified international medical graduates is touted as success?

It actually means that 1262 qualified doctors are going to be unemployed and unable to practice medicine in Canada. That is the equivalent of nearly seven to ten medical schools worth of MD graduates wasted every year!

What is the government’s response to these 1262 doctors denied a residency? Do they have to choose to live in Canada and never practice medicine again OR leave Canada for the USA or other jurisdictions?

The Canadian population suffers for lack of doctors. The famine of family physicians continues despite the plentiful resources at hand.

AIPSO renews its call for a moratorium of foreign visa trainees** for a period of three years, and allow these qualified IMGs to get these essential residencies.

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*Background information for the public

• For international medical graduates who pass all the necessary licensing exams in Canada, a training position called a residency is needed for them to obtain a certification to practice. Once they are unsuccessful in getting a residency, these doctors have to wait a year to apply again, since the match is done yearly.
• The final injustice occurs when the doctors apply for the match every year. Statistics show that after two or three years, the chances of getting a residency fall to nearly zero.

** Foreign visa trainees (FVT) take hundreds of residencies in Canadian training centres every year. These FVT doctors are funded by foreign governments and come here on training licenses. If Canada had an abundance of residencies, this would not be an issue. But when 1262 QUALIFIED local IMG doctors are denied a residency, then we must reassess our priorities. Why are Canadians denied these spots, and the same given to foreigners?