A homegrown solution, via Ireland?

CMAJ 2000;162:753

There are currently many Canadian citizens studying medicine in Ireland. The main reasons are that we were unable to find positions at Canadian medical schools and that our desire to be physicians was so great that we were willing to leave Canada to study. However, when we graduate it will be next to impossible for us to obtain a residency position in Canada, where we only have access to positions left unfilled by Canadian graduates. Not only are there relatively few positions, but there are also few openings in the popular specialties.

Most of us would love to come back to Canada to practise. Because the CMA is looking for a "homegrown" solution to the physician shortage, we would like to suggest that it try to find a way to bring us back home. Why not allow us to transfer into the clinical years at Canadian schools? We would be more than willing to start a couple of months early and do any review courses or exams to ensure that our skills and knowledge are on par with those of Canadian medical students entering third year. (In Ireland we take a 6-year program, with clinical rotations beginning in the middle of our fourth year.)

Your article stated that 24% of Canada's current physicians are foreign graduates who have passed Canadian licensing examinations. The register for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia clearly indicates that most of these physicians are from the UK, Ireland and South Africa. If they were able to pass the Canadian licensing exams, it would appear that foreign medical schools are producing doctors just as knowledgeable as the ones graduating in Canada. In other words, Canadian schools are not the only ones that produce competent physicians. Furthermore, considering the small number of students accepted for training at Canadian schools compared with the huge number of well-qualified applicants, Canadian students in the UK and Ireland are by no means "rejects" unworthy of consideration.

Now that the physician shortage has reached a critical stage in Canada, perhaps our case could be taken up and supported by the CMA and other physician groups.

Ilana Porzecanski
iporze@esatclear.ie
Magdelaine Deeby
Kimberly Wynd
Aamir Jeewa
Michael Bengough
Patrick Esperanzate
Sophia Jibodh
University College
Dublin, Ireland

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1. Sullivan P. Concerns about size of MD workforce, medicine's future dominate CMA annual meeting. CMAJ 1999;161(5):561-2.

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