I have just a final comment that can't be underestimated. The entry-level salary for a medical laboratory technologist is probably a tenth of what an entry-level physician will make. So to take the same group and suggest that they become medical lab technologists, when they're expecting six-figure salaries...it's not going to happen.
I've been told by a dear friend who's a lawyer that if you ask any law school class, it's full of people who failed GMATs, because a lot of people have decided they want a professional career and there are very few of them in Canada; doctors and lawyers are the two professions people naturally gravitate towards. I have a better understanding when you tell me that people going into medical school come from affluent areas primarily, because 6 to 12 years of school is a long haul for someone who comes from a working-class background. It may not be possible for such a person.
So I think it's not quite as easy as saying you can redirect a family physician down to the lab or over to dietetics, when our salary scales don't hit six figures, unless you're in senior management.