Canada has a unique opportunity to become a medical and scientific power, if it moves quickly to collect professionals who leave the United States following the cuts and health dismissals, says the head of the Canadian Medical Association.
Dr. Joss Reimer, president of the Canadian Medical Association, says that American medical professionals often face two great barriers when trying to emigrate from the United States to Canada, since “they may need to go through immigration, or may need to receive their training, if they did it in the United States, recognized in Canada.”
Its organization urges the Federal Government to ensure that visas are accelerated for American doctors interested in moving north and other unnecessary steps in the immigration process “to be eliminated not to lose this window of opportunity.”
Reimer says that the best way for Canada to attract more American talent is that the federal government works on immigration, while provinces and territories work in license problems with their regulatory bodies.
“We really have a window to find a positive side in all the things that are happening in the United States, to bring a lot of experience and doctors to Canada,” he said.
‘This is the most sunny side’
It is not clear how many workers of medical care at the United States.
The Medical Council of Canada, which evaluates and validates the doctor’s credentials, said that in the last six months, about 120 medical graduates per month in the US opened an online account on their website, an initial step to follow a Canadian license.
That is exceeding about 10 new online accounts open every month by American graduates during the same period of the previous year.
There is always a margin of improvement in the Universal Medical Care System of Canada, and it can mean less control for doctors in some way, but “in many ways, it is much better” than the American system, Reimer said.
For example, American doctors tend to deal with more paperwork than their Canadian counterparts due to the lack of coverage of universal medical care in the country, he said.
Nor can they always make the best decision for a patient if insurers stand, or if those patients cannot pay for care, Reimer said. That highlights “a wonderful difference” between Canadian and American systems.
The United States tends to pay higher wages for family doctors than almost any other country, but it is more likely that these doctors be demanded than anywhere else in the world, Reimer said.
“The dollar value does not reflect all income concerns to take home, at the end of the day,” he said.
“We hope that, by showing them that there is an option here, that they will really see that this is the most sunny side.”
‘Our health is also being threatened’
The Canadian medical association welcomes any doctor who wants to move to Canada, but there is a great need for family doctors, Reimer said. TO Health Canada Report Published in January, he discovered that Canada’s scarcity was about 23,000.
An estimated 6.5 million Canadians Do not have a family doctor.
The threats of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to the economic sovereignty of Canada have been the most important in the current federal electoral campaign of Canada, but Reimer wants more party leaders to press more to attract US workers and researchers of American medical care.
Health must become a problem of the front and the center on the platform of all political parties, because it is interconnected with the economy, Reimer said.
“We know that income is the determinant number 1 of health, and that means that our health is also being threatened,” he said.
“Until now, I have not heard much of political parties on how they plan to improve health and medical care in Canada.”
