The provincial government is once again touting its efforts to recruit American doctors and health-care workers who want to relocate to B.C.
A bylaw by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC), allowing U.S. doctors with certain certifications to become fully licensed in B.C., came into effect on July 7.
Health Minister Josie Osborne says the college has already received 29 applications for registration from American doctors.
In early June, the ministry announced the launch of a six-week, $5-million campaign of targeted advertisements to recruit doctors and nurses in the United States.
The province boasts that more than 2,000 health professionals have “signed up for webinars and expressed interest in working in B.C.” since the campaign launched.
“We are speeding up the timelines and opening the door wider for qualified doctors who want to care for people in our communities. Here in British Columbia, with these changes, we expect the number of job applications to grow even further, and as more health-care professionals enter our workforce, patients will be able to see them in their communities,” said Osborne at a media event Wednesday.
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A private health-care worker recruitment agency tells 1130 NewsRadio the process may not be as easy as attracting interest and expediting certifications.
In June, CanAm Recruiting said the biggest hold-up is at the federal level, which still requires doctors to apply for work permits through a variety of streams, which can still take months or more.
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada says it received 130 applications for work permits from American health-care professionals across the country between January and May of this year.
However, it didn’t provide a breakdown of how many of those applications were received from people hoping to work in British Columbia.
“Processing times are influenced by a range of factors, including immigration targets, the complexity of individual cases, and how quickly applicants respond to requests for information,” a department spokesperson said.
“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) continues to prioritize work permit applications from workers in essential occupations in healthcare, where additional labour is needed to protect and promote the health of Canadians. In addition, highly-skilled professionals who have a job offer from a Canadian employer and have submitted a complete work permit application from abroad which may include U.S. based physicians, may be eligible for expedited, two week processing under the Global Skills Strategy.”
The province says the CPSBC is working on another bylaw change to further streamline registration and licensure for doctors registered in some other international jurisdictions.
“Under the proposed changes, doctors can get full licensure if they meet one of the two following requirements: if they’ve completed a minimum of two years of accredited postgraduate training in family medicine in Australia, the United Kingdom, or Ireland; or if they completed postgraduate training and received a completion of training certificate or a certification in certain specialties from Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, or Ireland,” Osborne explained Wednesday.
