The Ford government just introduced new rules that will make it even harder to find a family doctor
The president of the Ontario Medical Association says she’s worried the change will drive physicians away
Following the province’s recent announcement that it would save medical residency spots for candidates who completed at least two years of high school in Ontario, the Ontario Medical Association says the policy could worsen the province’s physician shortage.
Related: Dying for a doctor in Ontario’s broken healthcare system
In an interview with the Canadian Press, Ontario Medical Association president Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman explained that the new rule could deter qualified physicians who are internationally educated. The fear is that this will lead to fewer doctors in the system overall, during a time when many Ontarians are without a primary care physician.
“We’re worried that this push to bring back Ontario students to practice might…have unintended consequences,” she said.
The office of Sylvia Jones, Ontario’s health minister, said the move encourages Ontario residents who completed their medical degrees elsewhere to come back and work within the province.
Last year, the OMA and Ontario College of Family Physicians warned that a quarter of Ontarians would likely be without a family doctor by 2026.
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
