Doctors' group to pay for discrimination

[Guest Ian Wong]

Here's an interesting article posted by the Globe and Mail regarding the 13 year fight an Italian-trained doctor needed to go through before being able to practise in British Columbia.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 4

 

www.globeandmail.com/serv...eakingnews

 

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Canadian Press

 

Vancouver — The B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons is considering an appeal of a provincial human rights tribunal order to pay five foreign-trained doctors a total of $145,000 for discriminating against them.

 

The protracted case began in 1991, when the five doctors — from Italy, Romania, Russia, India and the Philippines — filed complaints against the college through legal aid lawyers.

 

They argued the licensing requirements for doctors from certain countries were far more cumbersome than those for doctors from the United States, Great Britain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

 

In 1990 and again in 1991, some of the protesting doctors went on two-week hunger strikes to draw attention to their treatment.

 

In 1999, the human rights panel agreed with the doctors, saying they were discriminated against on the basis of race, ancestry or place of origin but the financial penalty has only now been ordered.

 

Only one of the five doctors, Italian-born Rosa Bitonti, is practising medicine in British Columbia. It took her 13 years to obtain an internship position at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver.

 

Two others work as doctors in the United States. The other two abandoned their plans to work in medicine in British Columbia.

 

The complainants have been awarded varying amounts in compensation depending on their circumstances.

 

College registrar Dr. Morris Van Andel said Wednesday he disagrees with all aspects of the tribunal's decision and it may be appealed.

 

"We are relieved the tribunal didn't give the complainants the $8 million they were seeking," he said. "But any award at all is not justified because we don't believe we were discriminatory."

 

Dr. Van Andel said it has always been the college's responsibility to establish standards for foreign-trained doctors and ensure they are adequately trained before they practice in British Columbia because there are limited public funds to pay for hospital-based internships.

 

About 500 foreign-educated doctors apply each year to work in British Columbia. About 100 are eventually licensed.

 

At the time the human rights case was heard, foreign graduates from English-speaking Category 1 countries — the United States, England, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia — could practise medicine after passing an evaluation exam because their postgraduate training was recognized.

 

Those from most other countries had to complete further training and an internship.

 

In 1993, the college abolished the Category 1 distinction. It now requires all foreign-educated doctors to complete two years of postgraduate training.

 

Dr. Van Andel said graduates from countries such as the United States, England and South Africa have traditionally been more successful obtaining jobs here because their countries' medical-school programs have the most in common with Canada.

 

"In some countries such as Italy, there are no prerequisite requirements for even entering medical school and in some places no requirement to have any experience working in a hospital," he said.

 

"There are huge variations in the quality of training."

[Guest monkey]

Hey Ian,

 

Thanks for the very thought provoking article. would anyone like to start a discussion on this? i was honestly surprised that the doctors were able to use the legal system...i didnt think you could. its nice to know the law allows for this.

 

On another note, considering we're facing such a shortage of docs, i would think they would make it easier for "foreign docs" to enter clinical medicine a lot quicker. But i also realize the canadian assoc's need to make sure every doc is credible and able. i just want to know what other ppl's reactions are to this...

[Guest shanna]

Could start by letting foreign students apply to all Can med schools the way Can students can apply to US schools

 

I'm at a loss for understanding this- A country needs doctors. Doctors are willing to go to lengths to come to said country. Country says 'No GTFO!'

 

I don't get it.

[Guest cheech10]

Foreign students CAN apply to many Canadian med schools, and there are many schools in the US where foreign students CANNOT apply (particularly publicly funded state schools, which are comparable to our post secondary education system, unlike private univeristies in the US).

 

The doctor shortage in Canada is not as simple an issue as you make it out to be. There likely is an absolute shortage, but it is exacerbated by an uneven distribution of practices, both geographically and in terms of specialties. Letting more foreign trained doctors practice may help with the absolue number of physicians, but is unlikely to address the geographic inequities in physician numbers, particularly since the vast majority of immigrants settle in urban areas (which are not suffering as large a shortage) and especially in the GTA.

 

All of that said, I'm not in favour of having such strict requirements for licencing IMGs, and I believe that a solution could have been found if the governments and licencing bodies were more motivated (which they seem to be becoming).