The dilemma of physician shortage and international recruitment in Canada

Islam, Nazrul (2014) The dilemma of physician shortage and international recruitment in Canada. International Journal of Health Policy Management, 3 (1), 29-32. (doi:10.15171/ijhpm.2014.53).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The perception of physician shortage in Canada is widespread.
Absolute shortages and relative discrepancies, bothspecialty-wise and in urban-rural distribution, have been a daunting policy challenge. International Medical Graduates(IMGs) have been at the core of mitigating this problem, especially as long as shortage of physicians in rural areas isconcerned. Considering such recruitment as historical reality is naïve annotation, but when it is recommended per se,then the indication of interest overweighs the intent of ethically justified solution. Such a recommendation has notonly invited policy debate and disagreement, but has also raised serious ethical concerns. Canadian healthcare policymakers were put into a series of twisting puzzles—recruiting IMGs in mitigating physician shortage was questionedby lack of vision for Canada’s self-sufficiency. In-migration of IMGs was largely attributed to Canada’s point-basedphysician-friendly immigration system without much emphasizing on IMGs’ home countries’ unfavorable factors andignoring their basic human rights and choice of livelihood. While policy-makers’ excellence in integrating the alreadymigrated IMGs into the Canadian healthcare is cautiously appraised, its logical consequence in passively drawingmore IMGs is loudly criticised. Even the passive recruitment of IMGs raised the ethical concern of source countries’(which are often developing countries with already-compromised healthcare system) vulnerability. The current paperoffers critical insights juxtaposing all these seemingly conflicting ideas and interests within the scope of national andtransnational instruments

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