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Local med grad won't be back for years to help relieve shortage



Brockville native Dave Beattie has no reason to pack his bags to come home when he graduates from medical school halfway around the globe in December.

That would be much too soon to get to the front of the line for international physicians applying to practise on Canadian soil.

Beattie, 39, left for Adelaide, Australia, four years ago to study medicine at Flinders University School of Medicine.

He was part of a wave of Canadians, including fellow Brockvillians Chris Chant and Caroline Nott, who followed him over successive years to Flinders, who launched their studies abroad because there were too few university spaces at home.

Now that he's almost ready to graduate, Beattie finds himself caught in another squeeze he fears will delay his return until at least the fall of 2007 and perhaps indefinitely.

He wants to come back to Canada to practise medicine and on a recent visit home he passed two entrance exams to pave the way for a full-time return.

He's even willing to put up with additional bureaucratic delays that won't allow him to even begin an internship here until late summer or fall of 2007.

But he's not willing to work for nothing, something he says he would have to do for four to six months after returning to Ontario as an intern at a hospital.

Alternatively, he said he can get an attractive salary and less onerous working hours as an intern in Australia, which is just as anxious to keep all the doctors it trains to deal with its own shortage.

"There is absolutely no way I can come back to Ontario if that's the way it's going to be. If they paid a comparable rate, I have nothing to complain about."

If not, though, staying longer in Australia may be the only option for his family.

"From my perspective, we may end up doing one year here and then applying into the IMG (International Medical Graduates) program.

"If they come back and say I'm not going to be paid my pre-residency in Ontario, I'll put it off until we decide things are going to change enough that we can come back.

"(Money) is not the big issue for me, but it would certainly deaden the pain of having to stay here a little longer."

Despite the difficulties, Beattie is encouraged by efforts over the past three years to increase the number of foreign-trained doctors who are allowed to practise in Ontario.

An announcement last week by IMG Ontario to reserve 25 spaces for Canadian citizens was another positive step, he said.

Still, he expects there will be fierce competition for those reserved spots.

"In my class alone we're at 15 Canadians and that doesn't take into account all other medical schools in Australia.

"If we play the odds, we're probably looking at 50 Canadians graduating in my year and 200 to 300 at schools in Ireland and other countries.

"Is 25 enough? Probably not. But, again, they have progressed. They've come along fairly well."

That progression includes an increase in the number of foreign-trained doctors accepted in Ontario from about 35 two years ago to more than 150 this year.

It's a record to be proud of, says IMG Ontario's medical director Dr. Murray Urowitz, who believes close to 200 foreign doctors will be accredited next year.

However, he said, increasing the number of international doctors must be accomplished without compromising safety.

That's why the process involves multiple tests and training, even for those graduates who have already interned at foreign hospitals, he said.

"We want to make sure they are the same standard as a Canadian graduate," said Urowitz.

He said graduates in pre-residency are being paid a salary from the ministry this year only.

Before this year, the pre-residency training was a nine-month program. This year it was contracted to four to six months and the Ministry of Health agreed to pay graduates the same salary as they would receive doing two years of internship.

"About next year, we don't know. It's up to the ministry but right now they are saying it's a one-time deal."

He said he "understands completely" how the doctor shortage has left many Ontarians without a family physician and he sympathizes with people who want to see a more welcoming gesture to former residents who want to return and practise medicine in their hometown.

"There are two issues. One is we're desperately underserviced but, two, standards need to be maintained. Just because they graduate doesn't mean they are qualified," said Urowitz.

Meanwhile, he said steps have been taken to simplify the application process for foreign-trained doctors and noted the province will accept close to 200 to begin training next year.

"Over a period of two years, there has been an unbelievably rapid expansion (in foreign doctors getting their accreditation)," he said.



Published in Section A, page 1 in the Monday, July 11, 2005 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.

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It is halarious how pompous my fellow Canadians are when it comes to medical training. They are talking as if Irish or Australian medical schools are somehow inferior to Canadian schools, thus they have to go through hundreds of bureaucratic hoops in order to Prove themselves to the Canadian Medical Board Overlords.

I will be a Caribbean grad and do not mind the extra tests, but it is insulting for Aussie and Irish grads to go through.

Hell, there is a Germn Heart Surgeon who immigrated to Canada according to a newspaper article that cannot get licensed because his German credentials are not equal to Canada's. This is at the same time that Canadians die waiting 2-6 months for heart surgery. Way to go Canada!!

well they say they can't jeopardize the QUALITY of medical care in canada with these underqualified foreign doctors!