May 12th, 2021

Invite internationally trained physicians to join Ontario’s fight against COVID-19: NDP to Ford

QUEEN’S PARK — Scarborough Southwest MPP Doly Begum, the NDP’s critic for Citizenship, Foreign Credentials and Immigration Services, is calling on the province to invite internationally trained physicians to join Ontario’s fight against COVID-19.

Begum’s call follows up on a Toronto Star report from yesterday that internationally trained physicians in Ontario – including those who have completed their Ontario exams — have largely been left out of the province’s response. This, even as the pressure on Ontario’s hospitals leads to a pile up of surgeries and diagnostic procedures that is expected to take three-and-a-half years to clear.

“I have spoken to many qualified physicians who don’t know why the province chose to spend resources on flying in doctors from other provinces when we have untapped resources here, at home,” said Begum. “There are thousands of internationally trained physicians who are ready and willing to help relieve the pressure the third wave has put on our hospitals.”

Ontario is home to more than 13,000 internationally trained physicians. One of those physicians is Dr. Ahmad Al Khatib, who had passed his qualification exams when COVID-19 hit, but was not able to complete his recertification process because the second most important exam in Canada for recertification stopped.

“In a crisis like the one Ontario is facing, it makes no sense to leave internationally trained physicians on the sidelines,” said Begum. “I’m urging the provincial government to invite internationally trained physicians to help ease the burden on hospitals and join the frontlines of Ontario’s fight against COVID-19.”

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Dr. Ayesha Mohammad, Internationally Trained Physicians of Ontario
“Internationally trained physicians have the medical qualifications, skills and experience to treat patients during the pandemic. The same skill set which is in 'short supply' and has had to be imported into the province. We have been knocking on doors and petitioning since the beginning of the pandemic to be able to help. We have been looking for channels to utilise our skills and match qualified physicians to areas of need. We have been met with silence from the government on any attempts to collaborate on a solution. Internationally trained physicians in Canada have gone elsewhere to help. We have internationally trained physicians who had to leave the province, their lives and their families to travel to Alberta, where they were able to work as Clinical or Surgical Assistants. We have many internationally trained physicians who migrated to the UK in the middle of the pandemic, to work as doctors there. All because the Ontario government provided zero pathways to incorporate our huge and varied fund of skills into the medical system here.

If no changes are made, I fear the skill loss and costs incurred in terms of population health for Ontario will only worsen and continue.”