A new assessment process is coming in Saskatchewan which is designed to recruit more foreign-trained doctors to the province.
Health Minister Don McMorris announced the new process Sept. 20.
In an interview with the News-Optimist last week, McMorris said the changes are in line with "our overall strategy for physician recruitment in this province."
The changes will come into effect Jan. 1. One of the key changes expands the number of countries in which foreign-trained doctors were eligible for assessment.
Previously, only foreign-trained doctors from a limited number of countries were eligible. Under the new process, international medical graduates will be assessed from all countries as long as they meet pre-screening requirements.
That means a medical graduate with credentials from countries such as Germany or France, or perhaps Asian countries such India or China, would be eligible to practice in Saskatchewan once their assessment is done.
"In previous years, we only accepted from seven countries," McMorris said. Only doctors with credentials from Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa were eligible before the changes.
"We'll be able to accept graduates from around the world, whether it's India, or Germany - once that they've passed our pre-screening and our assessment process, they'll be able to practise in Saskatchewan," McMorris said.
It will help increase the number of physicians working in Saskatchewan, he said. Before, international graduates had to go through an assessment program in Manitoba called CAPE, which McMorris said wasn't fitting what was needed in Saskatchewan. If practitioners failed the CAPE process, they had to be pulled out of communities completely.
"The old system wasn't fitting what we needed in our communities," McMorris said, saying the new process is in line with what communities were demanding.
There will be a change to when the assessment takes place. Before, the internationally trained doctors were assessed after they began practicing, which meant some disruptions as they had to leave their practices in order to be assessed.
Under the new rules they will be assessed prior to independent practice, allowing for safer patient care and seamless health care delivery.
International medical grads will also receive their orientation to the Canadian practice environment prior to the assessment, helping them adjust to the province and increasing their chances of success. Before, they had received their orientation after they had started practising with temporary licenses.
International grads would be evaluated under the supervision of a fully-licensed practitioner for a period of time, and weak areas would be identified and remediated. That would save them from the worry of being reassessed two or three years down the road, McMorris said.
Once up to standard, the international medical grad would be able to head directly to a community to which they were recruited to begin practise following their assessment, instead of having to find a practice group to work with. They no longer will be required to practise in a group setting.
There are also other stipulations that an international medical graduate would have to complete, such as first passing an evaluation exam through the Medical Council of Canada and other requirements.
The moves also puts Saskatchewan in line with national standards being developed as a result of the Agreement on Internal Trade, allowing for full labour mobility between provinces.
The province expects an increase in the number of doctors coming to the province as a result of the changes. They are preparing for 90 assessments a year as opposed to 55 a year under the previous system.
McMorris expects the changes will not only address the shortage of general practitioners in some rural communities but also fill some needs in urban centres as well.
"I would hope it would increase the quantity of physicians available in Saskatchewan both urban and rural," the health minister said.
The changes are in addition to other efforts under way to increase the number of doctors in Saskatchewan, including the expansion of seats at the College of Medicine to train doctors at home.
