Getting Doctorate In Another Country....Then Returning To Canada

[Sparkles]

I've heard many times over that if you choose to attend med school outside of Canada, that you will never practice in Canada. Is this true? Or is their a hint of truth? Or total baloney?

[bioboy2007]

International Medical Graduates (IMG's) [medical graduates outside North America] can and do practice in Canada. However, the process to get a residency spot is difficult and may contribute to the myth that one can 'never practice in Canada.'

 

Simply put, if you practiced in another country, you cannot simply practice in Canada once you move back here. You must go through residency again (and face a lot of competition doing so) before you are eligible to practice in Canada.

 

IMG's are a controversial topic for the Canadian health care system in that we have IMG's in Canada who are unable to practice (and must often perform different types of labor [which is often unskilled]) while we have a shortage of doctors. Some believe that IMG's should be recognized and allowed to practice while others feel that there needs to be a degree of standardization in what has been learnt through one's medical education and practice.

[UAgrad]

Hi all,

I hear so much about IMGs wanting to come back to Canada following med school to practice - of course this makes sense, as Canada is a wonderful place to live and work as a physician, and I think the current difficulties that IMGs face in coming back here deserve to be addressed in depth in these forums.

However...I never seem to see many posts about Canadian medical graduates moving abroad to practice!! It seems we never hear of people graduating here and either doing their residency or practicing in Europe, OZ, New Zealand...or other places. Is it very difficult to do? Has anyone successfully done it? If not, why not? I'm just curious to hear, as it's something I'm considering doing someday...

[muchdutch]

Maybe, they just don't frequent these boards - they've moved on with their lives from pre-med and med school to real life and might not stick around.