Despite missed target, Ontario cities pin hopes on program for foreign-trained docs

A doctor wears a lab coat and stethoscope in an exam room at a health clinic in Calgary, Friday, July 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

More than two dozen internationally-trained family doctors are now treating patients in Ontario as part of an expedited licensing program that missed its initial target for 2024.

Despite the slower-than-expected uptake in the beginning of the Practice Ready Ontario program, the province now says it’s aiming to bring 100 foreign-trained physicians to northern and rural areas by the end of the year.

The Ontario government says the initial target of licensing 50 internationally-trained doctors by the end of 2024 was not met but that has now been rolled into the new target of 100 primary care doctors.

Touchstone Institute, a non-profit organization that has partnered with the Ontario government and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, said the first cohort of 28 licensed physicians is now working under three-year contracts in high-need communities that include Sudbury, Goderich and Huntsville.

The organization said a total of 191 internationally-trained doctors initially applied for the program when it was launched in 2023 and 55 of them were eligible to start the licensing process. It said 27 doctors either left the program or failed to pass its requirements at different points.

Wendy Yen, a senior director of programs at Touchstone Institute, said the goal is to bring physicians “into the areas of greatest need” in the province.

“The 28 (doctors) we are reporting is for the first cohort, but we have cohort two and other cohorts that are actively moving through the program,” she said in an interview.

Before the program was launched, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the Ontario College of Family Physicians had both called on the government to provide a faster path to licensing for internationally-trained doctors.

The family physicians' college has said that a practice-ready program could help improve access to care. As of last July, it estimated that 2.5 million people in the province don’t have a family doctor.

Eric Wong, the clinical director at Touchstone Institute, said foreign-trained doctors would normally have to complete two years of family medicine residency training to get licensed in Ontario and this program significantly reduces that process.

“It would be roughly, from beginning to end, nine months to one year... where a candidate would first be an applicant into our program and then would be selected as a candidate that would participate in our assessment,” he said.

Wong said the 12-week field assessment is supervised by a licensed Canadian physician, and is a crucial step in the program.

“They are working under the direct supervision of Canadian physicians, seeing those physicians' patients,” he said. “We are essentially trying to confirm these internationally-trained physicians are safe and competent to practise family medicine here in Ontario.”

Wong said the field assessment helps candidates gain Canadian work experience in different settings, including doctors' offices, emergency rooms and sometimes long-term care homes.

“They also get exposure to working in typically team environments so beyond working under the supervision of a physician they are also working with other health-care professionals: nurses, social workers, pharmacists, physiotherapists and so forth,” he said.

Wong said doctors should have at least four years of training and work experience in their home country to apply for the practice-ready program, adding that the process involves reference and employment checks.

Ryan Humeniuk, a physician recruiter for Greater Sudbury, said the city was able to recruit four physicians from the program’s first cohort and five more doctors are expected to start working in Sudbury this spring.

“Over the years, I’ve spoken with many individuals that trained and practised in their home countries and when they move to Canada, move to Ontario, they did not have the licence to practice,” said Humeniuk, who has recruited doctors to northern Ontario’s largest city since 2007.

“Previous to Practice Ready Ontario, it was a lengthy process to get licensing.”

Humeniuk said the doctors arriving in Sudbury through the program are highly skilled and have a wide range of experiences.

“Once all nine are practising, they will care for almost 12,000 people in our community,” he said. “We’re just very excited about it.”

Humeniuk said the need for family doctors in Sudbury is growing due to population growth and the retirements of physicians who have been providing primary health care for many patients.

“Sometimes it takes two new physicians to take over an existing patient roster (of one retiring physician),” he said.

Humeniuk said there are 128 family physicians working in his community and more will be needed in the coming years.

Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre said the city is focusing on being an attractive community where these doctors can work and still have a life – a part of Sudbury’s broader effort to attract and retain more skilled immigrants.

“It’s certainly a very multicultural community that we have here and a very diverse community,” he said, adding that the city is also looking to attract new doctors who’ve graduated from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University in Sudbury.

“We’ve had waves and waves of new physicians arriving from other countries. And so that has really helped us grow our city,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 15, 2025.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press