The problem in my mind is pretty simple: We don't have enough primary care practitioners to work in rural areas. We haven't for the past almost 35 years, since I graduated from medical school. The other problem now is not having enough nurses. It would seem to me the problem could readily be solved by looking at credentialling far more foreign graduates. In my 35 years of being a doctor, I've met so many people, doctors and nurses in Canada, who were trained in other places but were unable, despite all their efforts, to get credentialing in Canada.
It would certainly seem to me that if we want to address the health care shortage quickly, the federal government could give more money to the provinces, and the provinces could then implement more positions to upgrade the skills of foreign-trained graduates so that they come up to the standards required in Canada. That may mean academic upgrading, practical upgrading or more residency programs. Could we do that?
Let me first ask Dr. Pichora. Could you, at Kingston, open up more positions for academic training? I'm thinking for maybe just a year or two, or maybe shorter, depending on where the person has graduated from. Could you provide a tailored, practical upgrading, if necessary, in order to get practitioners out quickly? Presumably they'd still have to write the licensing exams. I'm not thinking of surgeons, because the problem is not OR spots, but I'm thinking of primary care practitioners and nurses.