MP Gallant Supports Efforts to Train Doctors Locally

September 28, 2007

Pembroke, Ontario - “Efforts to train doctors locally are seeing positive results,” observed MP Cheryl Gallant. “ The next step once we train these doctors will be to encourage them to stay in our community and practise medicine.”

“I am very pleased to acknowledge that the Pembroke Regional Hospital has formalized a professional arrangement with the University of Ottawa Medical School to locate four medical students at the Pembroke Regional Hospital to complete their specialized residency requirements.”

“This is exciting news for local residents who currently are without a family doctor. Studies have demonstrated that early exposure to rural medicine is crucial for later recruitment of doctors into rural practice,” stated MP Cheryl Gallant.

“The next challenge is to find creative ways to address the shortage of family doctors in our community without compromising registration standards. This also includes developing greater opportunities for physicians to qualify to practise in Ontario. ”

“The new Conservative government has recognized this problem and acted. The last two budgets have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into addressing this situation, including the establishment of a “Physician Credentials Registry in Canada” along with a Foreign Credentials Referral Office to help verify and integrate international medical graduates into the Canadian labour market.”

“In preparation for the start of the new Parliament, I wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper about ‘Project 1000, Let Us Train Our Own Family Doctors,’ which is being led by Pembroke doctor A.Y. Eng. This plan supports returning to the once common practice of allowing doctors to be trained locally and has similarities to one developed by the Canadian Medical Association. Their “Community-Based Preceptorship Program for International Medical Graduates” (IMGS), would draw upon the estimated 1700 IMGs in Canada who are not able to practise medicine in Canada due to Provincial government policy which limits the opportunities in Canada for IMGs to pursue the postgraduate medical training that would lead to medical licensure in this country. Physician ‘mentors’ would be compensated to supervise and train IMGs in a family practice setting.

“The 2007 federal Budget provided $30 million over three years for patient wait times guarantees pilot projects. I have requested that Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke be considered as a test site for one of these projects. The people of this community have a right to quality healthcare as much as anywhere else,” concluded Cheryl Gallant, MP.

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For More Information Please Call Cheryl Gallant, M.P. at (613) 732-4404