Thank you, Your Honour.
As you pointed out, my name is Nicodeme Mugisho-Demu, and I represent the Alberta International Medical Graduates Association. We are a not-for-profit organization that is committed to integrating foreign physicians into the Canadian medical system without compromising current Canadian medical standards. We are, then, a bridge between over 600 foreign physicians in Alberta and the Canadian medical system.
We all agree on the need to integrate foreign physicians into the Canadian medical system, especially at these times, when a Canadian patient may spend hours in the waiting room just for a prescription renewal, while we have foreign physicians doing such jobs as security guards. There is even a well-known person who made a joke, that if a pregnant woman has a choice between calling 9-1-1 and the cab, she should call the cab, because if anything happens down the road, God forbid, the driver can make the delivery: he's a foreign physician.
It might make you laugh, but this is the sad reality.
The question is how do we make sure that we tap into the resource represented by IMGs so that we can make things better for Canadians and for these IMGs? We as an association will be a key player in this process, because we understand the Canadian medical system requirement and the foreign physicians' needs and challenges in this situation.
There are some challenges. The first one is the lack of assessment procedures that take into account IMGs' prior medical experience. We need to have such a procedure, one that will take into account their prior medical experience and how long they've been out of practice as well as provide an upgrading procedure. This will help to integrate these people into the Canadian medical system. I know some organizations are working on this basis, and, as an association, we are working currently on a fast-track assessment research program funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. This research program will be completed by March 2010, and we will be more than happy to share the results of the research with the House for its consideration.
Another challenge is the fact that the few programs in existence for foreign physicians are not integrated. These programs don't work together. We have to make sure they work together. I will give you an example of how serious this is.
In Calgary we have the Calgary clinical assistants program, and in Edmonton we have the surgical preceptorship program and the clinical preceptorship program. These are two-year programs. The IMGs work for two years under supervision, undergoing some evaluations that are comparable to those of Canadian graduates. These are great programs, but at the end of the two years, they're just dropped. These programs become bridges to nowhere. If these people have to apply for international medical programs, for example, for their full licensure, there is no consideration whatsoever of that experience. They have to spend the same amount of time in the residency program as if they would if they hadn't gone through that program. This is a waste of time and resources, both for the Canadian medical system and for the IMGs.
One of the solutions, and the most effective one, would be for all the programs to help foreign physicians to be made into university-based programs. That way, there would better coordination of these programs, and the foreign physicians would have the opportunity to get acquainted with their future colleagues, other medical students.
The other problem is a shortage of residency positions. Of course, this is justified by the lack of preceptors, as well as sometimes the finance. But if we consider that most IMGs apply for family practice—this is an area where the shortage is mostly felt—expanding the qualifications to be a preceptor to family physicians in private clinics and rural areas is a solution to this problem. Then they will be able to mentor these foreign physicians. The House could look into some incentives and tax breaks for physicians who are supervising those physicians.
Those are some of the points we have.
We thank you again for listening to us and for giving us this opportunity to talk in front of this great nation.
Thank you.