Currently the government is calling for retired physicians and nurses to re-register to deal with COVID-19 pandemic, and their services are so appreciated; however, we are neglecting the fact that we also have a sizeable number of Internationally-trained health professionals who have come to Canada from various avenues, from skilled migrants to refugees, who have the skills to help in this crisis, but currently cannot practice because it is exceedingly difficult to have their credentials recognized.
It makes little sense in this time of crisis that there are members of our community who may need medical assistance at the same time as having members of our communities who could help but are currently not allowed to practice.
It is worth mentioning that one of the main reasons for the occurrence of medical errors is a high workload of physicians. Therefore, recruitment of IMGs can improve the quality of care from different aspects, make medical services accessible to all Canadians, and prevent much harm to IMGs and their families.
The current bylaw amendments proposed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (read more here:
https://globalnews.ca/news/6774818/bc-associate-physician-foreign-trained-doctors-coronavirus/) is a step in the right direction, and we applaud the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC and the Ministry of Health for taking action. However, we believe more needs to be done to strengthen this amendment to help British Columbians, and the IMGs during this time and for the future.
Now is the time to let a group of highly skilled New Canadians be part of the solution to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. As Dr John Blatherwick, former Medical Health Officer of Vancouver Coastal Health said: “Now is the time for us to consider foreign-trained graduates that we have in our community. We have an army of physicians, who can help bravely… This is a good time to sit down and say, Okay! We haven’t tackled this problem. We wasted all those people’s talents, and now we could use them.”