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One in four doctors foreign-trained |
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One in four doctors in Canada today is foreign-trained, according to a new study published by a respected medical journal.
The New England Journal of Medicine said Canada is one of a handful of major countries - the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia being others - who rely on other countries for more than a fifth of their physicians.
Canada gained most of its foreign born and trained doctors from the UK, South Africa, India and Ireland. Other countries whose talent Canada drew from include Pakistan, Jamaica and Sri Lanka.
Among the four developed countries draining talent from other nations, there is also a great deal of cross-movement. The United States was the greatest benefactor, with some 9,000 physicians crossing over from Canada as opposed to just over 500 US doctors who moved north since 2002. Canada also benefited with a significant number of British-born doctors moving here.
Ironically, there are thousands of internationally trained doctors in Canada who are not working in their profession because accrediting institutions pick only a few hundred each year to practise.
The New England Journal study characterized the growing exodus of doctors to the US, Canada, UK and Australia as "silent theft" from nations that desperately need trained physicians.
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Newsfile 
