British Columbia Health Minister, Adrian Dix, has revealed that almost all of the 666 international medical graduates that registered in the province this year now work as doctors, with over 333 in family medicine.
Dix’s comments come in the wake of the ongoing health-care problems including hospital overcrowding and a lot of residents being left without a family doctor.
He says as many as 700 doctors who were not practising family medicine last year are now working in the sector.
According to the Minister, a new longitudinal payment model which reflects time spent with patients and the complexity of their needs is more popular with the new doctors than the traditional fee-for-service model.
He said efforts to increase the number of family doctors in B.C. also included the creation of spaces in B.C.’s medical schools for both Canadian and international students.
He stated that the policies have contributed to graduating doctors preferring B.C. to nearby areas like Alberta, with as many as 80 percent of locally trained professionals remaining in the province.
In a recent news conference, Dix noted that Alberta retains 60 percent of the doctors it trains. He said: “In B.C., when we train doctors here, they stay here.
“That’s because of the priority we are giving especially to family practice, but to medical practice and the support that we give to our health officials including, for example in COVID, our provincial health officer.”.
The registration of 666 international medical graduates with the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons this year was included this month in the first update to the province’s $1-billion multi-year health human resource strategy.
A statement by the college stated that not all registrants are necessarily practising in B.C., as the figure includes associate physicians, academics, and visiting physicians who could have already gone.
B.C’s update said 578 internationally educated nurses were registered in 2023, almost times two of the number registered in 2022.
Dix previously said that B.C. needed to dramatically increase the number of health-care professionals to reduce the gaps in the system and keep up with population growth.
Dix said beyond family medicine, a “significant number” of the international medical graduates registered in the province this year are involved in speciality medicine.
Also, the province is sending international medical graduates to rural and remote communities, under “return of service programs” where doctors are required to agree to the postings in exchange for government-funded training.
Dix said B.C. is meeting its targets in these programs and hopes the staffing situation will get better as investments continue.
He4 said: “The reason that system has been successful, why it’s attracting people from all over the country and the world, is because it recognizes the central role of family practice in health care in the province.
“That’s a lot of doctors who are seeing new patients they didn’t see last year, so it makes a real difference for people.”
