Canada Talk » Our doctor dilemma

From the Toronto Star. This guy is a friend of a friend of mine. I am not trying to alarm you, but this is a reality for highly qualified immigrants.

Zitat

---

One immigrant with 20 years of medical practice has heard enough about the dire shortage of physicians in Ontario
Aug. 4, 2006. 06:34 AM
CEES BAAS
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Does Ontario really want more doctors? About every other month there's news about the shortage, with promises that things will improve. But now that I've been here for two years, the news and the promises don't impress me any more. I'll tell you my story.
After 20 years of full-time medical practice in Holland, I packed up to live with my new love in Toronto. Almost two years of transatlantic dating with the odd flights back and forth had both of us longing for more. I figured I deserved a sabbatical and I always wanted to write. That's what I was going to do.
But my decision of not working as a doctor for awhile soon started to wobble.
It began when I met a Dutch miner from somewhere near Sudbury. He lived a happy life with his buddies of 40 years, all from the mine, all retired now. He told me communities like his feared the departure of their physician. Who was going to monitor their health, prescribe their pills, tell them that the itchy brown spot was not the dreaded disease, thank heavens?
I received an immediate invitation to come and check things out up north. I knew it wasn't that simple. We chatted a bit, then he summed things up. "So if we were both in Holland you could treat me and now we're both in Canada and you can't?" That was more or less the situation, I confirmed.
I felt for the guy. He'd built up his life working hard shifts in the mine, but now that he was about to reap the harvest, he might have to leave and start all over again somewhere else — because of the shortage of doctors.
Back home, I'd never heard of villages depopulating after the doctor's departure. The next village is rarely more than 5 kilometres away.
The next event that upset my plans for the future involved me balancing the thin line between giving medical advice, which is illegal, and watching an elderly person deteriorate from an undiagnosed bout of malaria.
A friend of a friend called me, panicking. After I had seen the patient I was concerned enough to contact a specialist in tropical diseases. We visited him the same day. A great doctor, very professional, very skilful and very pleasant.
Diagnosing malaria requires studying a blood sample under a microscope, something both the specialist and I had done before, but nowadays it's the job of a laboratory.
A courier was required to take the sample across the street. Although the lab was still open, the courier service had already shut down for the day, delaying the final diagnosis by more than 12 hours.
The specialist offered his apologies. "It's beyond my control," he said, "and I find it very embarrassing."
I wasn't upset. It seemed so familiar. I could only think, if even the bureaucratic silliness is the same as back home, then why won't they let me work here?
Not long after the incident with the malaria patient, I wrote the first of three exams to get my medical diploma recognized — and passed it.
The second exam was based on the same material, so I would have loved to write it the next day. Sadly, the first opportunity was a full eight months later.
It was actually fun to write — a very good reflection of everyday medical practice, a quiz to test my medical knowledge and reasoning. It wouldn't be a bad thing if every doctor wrote it every now and then, just to see where he or she stands.
Last month I heard that I had passed this second exam, too. Now I have to find a place to work under supervision for a year.
Honestly, that feels sort of odd after 20 years of full-time practice and with a clean slate in every respect.
After that, I will write a third exam. Which, as you will by now understand, is about roughly the same material again.
I admit that I have despaired, that I might even have been angry, if only I knew with whom. All the officials I speak with are encouraging, understanding and very well informed.
They all tell me there are countries in the world where you can buy a medical diploma on the street. And countries where women are considered second-rate citizens on which you wouldn't spend too much of your valuable medical resources.
But does that sound like Holland? Does that sound like me?
After passing the first exam, I called the medical boards of all the provinces. Some made it pretty clear that if my résumé wasn't abysmal, they would love me to go there the next day. Others warned me that merely looking at a diseased person might jeopardize my whole future. So I don't.
I almost forgot to tell you the good news. My savings have run out and I found a job!
I'm hammering warehouse data into the computer of an importing company. It's a great company and a very nice team. If I make long enough days I can get by on $15 an hour. Hey, that's better than driving a taxi!
There's one more thing about money that I don't understand. Medical education is expensive, and hard to quantify. (It's all about how you attribute cost.) But by any estimate, an MD is worth at least half a million Canadian dollars. That's what I brought to my new home country.
Here I am, Canada. Half a million dollars, and it's all yours to use at your discretion.

---

Zitat von Greywolf

---

Hallo mas,

ist schon ausgesprochen interessant - und könnte sogar lustig sein, wenn es nicht wirklich so traurig wäre.

Ein Freund von mir ist Zahnarzt, ausgesprochen gut in Implantologie. Er hatte auch mal vor nach Kanada auszuwandern, hat es sich aber wieder anders überlegt, weil es ihm so vor kam, als wäre er den Kanadiern nicht "gut genug".

Aber wollte die Regierung Harper dieses Problem nicht angehen?

Grüße,

Greywolf

---

Hallo,

diese problematik ist aber seit über 50 jahre bekannt!!!

jeder doktor , der sich heute darüber beschwert, muss sich selbst die schuld geben, wenn er als taxifahrer oder ... arbeitet.

das gilt auch in einigen anderen berufen, juristen z.b.

die politiker können nichts daran ändern!!!!!!!

also nach denen zu schreien oder sie zu beschimpfen ist dummes zeug.


ein problem ist auch: Marktsättigung für die vorhandenen ausbildungsplätze - meint, es gibt kein internship plätze mehr!
die sind alle vergeben.

ist ja auch logisch, wenn massen an doktoren oder ing. nach ontario strömen, dann sind die ausbildungsplätze ab tag x besetzt.


in meinem buch zitiere ich ein mail aus dem ärzte forum

dort hat ein facharzt mit 52 jahren fortbildung und prüfungen in quebec gemacht - englisch + französisch - drei monate später war er in new brunswick am arbeiten.

just for information