How to further improve the credentialling process of International Medical Graduates in Canada

Dear Editor,

I read with great interest the article by Macfarlane on the marginalization of international medical graduates (IMGs) in the CaRMS match.¹ Both my wife and I are family physicians and we considered a few years ago to move to Canada given that she is a Canadian national and her family is there. However, both of us carried out our undergraduate and postgraduate medical training in Portugal, and it quickly became apparent that the hurdles to practice in Canada would be significant. The article makes some great suggestions to make the whole process fairer for IMG’s but I would like to add a few. It would be important to provide financial support to candidates who commit to undergo residency in Canada as it could be several months or years between landing in Canada and starting clinical practice. How are candidates supposed to support themselves during that period? This is already done in several European countries to physicians who are undergoing the credentialling process. In alternative, there should be the possibility of undergoing exams and complete the credentialling process outside Canada so as to avoid life-changing decisions like moving country should candidates not secure residency placements. Finally, the medical expertise and experience of physicians seeking to live in Canada should not be wasted should the outcomes of the credentialling process not be favourable, and these individuals should be offered counselling on how to make the transition to an alternative career in the healthcare sector. Even though it is understandable that the medical profession is tightly regulated globally, and international mobility is not as simple as it is for other professions, the credentialling process has to be not only equitable, but also more flexible and realistic.

Conflicts of Interest

The author has no conflicts of interet to report.