Province to bring as many as 100 international doctors to rural communities next year

Ontario is set to welcome as many as 100 internationally trained doctors to rural and northern communities, Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced Thursday.

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Speaking at the Minto Mapleton Family Health Team’s location in Palmerston, Jones said the doctors, who will be recruited through the Practice Ready Ontario program, will connect as many as 120,000 patients to primary health care.

“This program breaks down barriers for highly skilled, internationally educated doctors with experience practicing family medicine by removing the requirement to complete unnecessary re-education programs in exchange for a return of service in a rural or northern community,” Jones said.

Through the Practice Ready program, which was launched last year, every participating internationally educated must complete a physician 12-week assessment that ensures they meet the requirements to practice medicine in Ontario. This program also requires physicians to complete a three-year return of service as a family doctor in a rural or northern community.

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The assessment includes training in all aspects of rural family medicine, including office, hospital, emergency department, and long-term care and home care settings.

“The Practice Ready Ontario program is one more way our government has been connecting you to the care you need close to homee,” Jones said.

Joining Jones was Dr. Narah Luzinga, who was one of the first physicians involved in the Practice Ready program and is now working at the Minto Mapleton Family Health Team.

“I am truly excited about the incredible opportunity that Practice Ready Ontario has created for international medical graduates, including myself, to become family physicians in Ontario. This program represents a significant milestone in my journey towards practicing medicine in Canada, and I am deeply grateful for the chance to contribute to the health system of this country,” Luzinga said.

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“I have always believed that Canada is not just a country, but a home where dreams can flourish for those who are committed to seizing the opportunity to provide.”

During the announcement, Jones said Ontario has the lowest surgical wait times in Canada while claiming 90 per cent of Ontarians had a primary-care provider. According to the Ontario College of Family Physicians, however, nearly 2.5-million – around 15 per cent of Ontarians – are without a family doctor.

Jones highlighted some of the provincial government’s other efforts to increase the number of family doctors, including new medical schools at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Brampton campus, which is set to open next year, and at York University, which is slated for a 2028 opening. According to Jones, 60 per cent of the medical students at the York school will focus on primary care.

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Jones also pointed to the expansion of Ontario’s learn-and-stay grant that will cover tuition for medical school students who commit to practicing family medicine, and the recent hiring of Jane Philpott to lead a new primary-care action team, which has been tasked to connect every Ontarian to primary care within the next five years.

“We are proud of the progress we have been able to make, and we know there is more that can be done to continue to close the gap for the people in Ontario not currently connected to a primary-care practitioner, and our government is taking that action,” Jones said.

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