Re – physician shortage

MJ Mika | Sep 06, 2019

As a 40-year veteran of the nursing profession, I felt compelled to respond to the letter by Dr. Gibbens.

I was surprised that Dr. Gibbens, in her recent letter to the editor, focused largely on defending the money making foreign medical resident training programs run by several Canadian medical schools. I would like to see Dr. Gibbens instead ask why these universities spend their effort recruiting family medicine resident physicians from rich middle eastern countries instead of putting adequate effort into recruiting family medicine resident physicians, like Dr. Cronk, to practice in rural Canadian communities. The simple fact is that foreign visa trainees are taking up scarce medical residency positions, when these important training jobs should first be made available to Canadian citizens and permanent residents who would then stay and practice in Canada. In 2017 Dr. Gibbons was profiled in the Frontenac News, and she said that every day she turns down requests from the community to join the clinic’s roster of patients. I hope to see her again passionately defend programs that support her in solving the crisis of doctor shortages in rural Canada.

M.J. Mika