According to a media report by CTV, young budding Canadian doctors are moving out of Canada for opportunities amid the lack of medical training resources. This is a ‘reverse brain drain’ cycle that has started in Canada.
Reportedly, amid a shortage of healthcare workers and lack of support from the federal government, medical students and new doctors in Canada are struggling to find opportunities in their field to help fill the much-needed gap in the country’s healthcare system. So, they are looking to move out of the nation.
Dr. Desmond Leddin, a professor of medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax has stressed that more and more Canadians are looking for opportunities outside of Canada to complete their medical studies or find training programs in their field to land a job.
Data shows a bigger picture
When you look at the data, you will understand how the young Canadians are downcasted due to the misery of the Canadian health sector. As per the data provided by Canadian Institute for Health Information, there were 93,998 physicians practicing in Canada in 2021, a slight increase of 2% from the reported 92,166 physicians in 2020. This means that only 246 Canadian doctors are looking at over 100,000 people.
Once medical students complete their undergraduate studies, they need to complete postgraduate medical training or a “residency” within a medical institution to gain hands-on experience in their field. However, in Canada, many students are struggling to find residency opportunities.
On the situation, Dr. Leddin further explains, “The number of spaces is limited. That was a decision that was made a number of years ago when it was perceived, that unbelievably now, that there was a Canadian doctors surplus, and those changes were put in place and they haven’t been reversed.”
Sadly, the changes are still in place and the alleged surplus is now officially at a dearth.
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Who’s responsible?
If you still believe that the situation is not gruesome, hear this. A new study suggests that nearly 20 percent of family doctors in Toronto will be closing their practices in the next five years. Nearly four percent of physicians in that group said they plan to close in the next 12 months.
The study found that the Canadian doctors who are planning to leave tend to be older, so demographic retirement trends are a factor. So, on one side, you have retiring doctors. Whereas, on the other, budding Canadian doctors are in no mood to save the day for the Canadian health sector.
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But, whom do you blame for this mishap? Trudeau? Or provincial governments? In reality, they all are of the same cult. Each and everyone’s hands are equally dirty in this foul play.
The Trudeau government in Ottawa is passing the buck to provinces stressing that provinces are bound to boost their accessibility to Canada Health Transfer.
Whereas, the provincial governments are simply crying foul on the issue and stressing that they can’t do everything alone.
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Canadians are the only ones in their tug-of-war who are continuing to collapse under the strain. Young physicians desired to be surrounded by opportunities and responsibilities. However, the catastrophe is so severe that now they don’t even want to contribute to lessen the suffering.
