REGINA - The province is touting the arrival of new Registered Nurses coming to Saskatchewan from the Philippines this week.
Five RNs from the Philippines are to arrive this week, according to their news release Thursday. This is just the first of several groups of Filipino RNs who have received conditional job offers and who will be arriving to Saskatchewan for their in-person training — a first step before starting employment with the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
The province had gone on two recruitment missions to the Philippines during the winter 2022 and the spring of 2023, and reports they have recruited more than 400 Filipino RNs.
"We're thrilled to welcome the first group of nurses recruited from the Philippines to start on their pathway to a successful career here in Saskatchewan," Minister of Health Paul Merriman said in a statement.
"As home to a thriving, vibrant and growing Filipino community, our province has experienced great success in welcoming and integrating Filipino health care professionals. I look forward to these RNs completing their training and joining our health care workforce."
The province has also confirmed that starting in August, they will be implementing an accelerated streamlined pathway for internationally educated nurses that will shorten licensing timeframes from months down to 14 weeks. The province says a majority of the RNs recruited from the Philippines will be enrolled in this program.
The province has also released more data on additional progress being made under their Health Human Resources Action Plan.
They report that since last December the SHA has hired 485 grad nurses from the province and across Canada. They also report progress towards new and enhanced permanent full-time positions in rural and remote areas, with 157 positions now filled and ongoing work being done to fill the remainder to reach a goal of 250.
They also say a Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive of up to $50,000 is being offered to new employees in nine high priority classifications in 53 rural and remote areas, with 140 incentives conditionally approved to date.
The province also reports the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan is adding four seats to its upcoming fall 2023 intake of medical students, increasing the total seats from 100 to 104.
Opposition points to long wait times
On the same day that the SaskParty government was releasing good news about progress on their recruitment efforts, the opposition New Democrats issued a news release pointing to Saskatchewan having some of the worst wait times in the country for procedures.
They pointed to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, noting their latest report showed median wait times for knee replacements in Saskatchewan was 466 days in 2022, compared to a national average of 198 days. The next-worst province, Manitoba, was at 336.
The NDP also pointed to Saskatchewan having the worst wait times in Canada for hip replacements with a median of 309 days, compared to the national average of 164 days.
“Almost everyone in Saskatchewan knows someone waiting in pain for a surgery that should have been delivered months ago,” said Official Opposition Leader Carla Beck in the party's news release. “We have the worst hospital waits in Canada by a country mile. No government should pat itself on the back for a job half done.”
