I know a cardiovascular tech who is a pediatric cardiologist in Pakistan. He feels lucky to have this job even though it’s a waste of his talents, and worked as a security guard when he got here. I also know a psychiatrist from South Africa who was forced to work as a GP for five years in rural Nova Scotia before being able to practice in his field, a German psychiatrist who had to redo five years of residency, a Bolivian neurologist who became a PA and is redoing his residency, and my own GP was a respirologist in Croatia and had to go back through medical school to work here. It’s a waste of much needed talent, and while there are certainly educational differences, surely we could create bridging programs for these doctors to get them up to our skill requirements and fast track them. Instead we continue to import people to work at Tim Hortons or simply not at all, in a housing crunch. It’s a huge waste. International doctors often are the only ones who work in subspecialist clinics, because some specialities are not very well paid if you are Canadian and went to school here, so we really do need them.
The other problem nobody is addressing is how the Saudi government buys their doctors positions here and gives them large pensions for it, and they’re sometimes not very qualified, and I’ve had some male residents who REALLY hate women because they’re conservative Muslims and don’t think they should have to work with us. The Saudi government will also demand their doctors come back whenever they want by taking away their pensions, and make them come back and work in hospitals there. They also will stop Saudi women from going to medical school here. I don’t know how much money they hand our health care system, but it’s hugely problematic and unethical.
I know a cardiovascular tech who is a pediatric cardiologist in Pakistan. He feels lucky to have this job even though it’s a waste of his talents, and worked as a security guard when he got here. I also know a psychiatrist from South Africa who was forced to work as a GP for five years in rural Nova Scotia before being able to practice in his field, a German psychiatrist who had to redo five years of residency, a Bolivian neurologist who became a PA and is redoing his residency, and my own GP was a respirologist in Croatia and had to go back through medical school to work here. It’s a waste of much needed talent, and while there are certainly educational differences, surely we could create bridging programs for these doctors to get them up to our skill requirements and fast track them. Instead we continue to import people to work at Tim Hortons or simply not at all, in a housing crunch. It’s a huge waste. International doctors often are the only ones who work in subspecialist clinics, because some specialities are not very well paid if you are Canadian and went to school here, so we really do need them.
The other problem nobody is addressing is how the Saudi government buys their doctors positions here and gives them large pensions for it, and they’re sometimes not very qualified, and I’ve had some male residents who REALLY hate women because they’re conservative Muslims and don’t think they should have to work with us. The Saudi government will also demand their doctors come back whenever they want by taking away their pensions, and make them come back and work in hospitals there. They also will stop Saudi women from going to medical school here. I don’t know how much money they hand our health care system, but it’s hugely problematic and unethical.