A new life for him and his family: Doctor recruited from Britain happy with move to Brandon
But the recruiting process needs to be streamlined, Muhammad Khan says
When Muhammad Khan landed in Brandon at the start of 2025, he wasn't sure what to expect.
The physician had moved to Manitoba's second-biggest city from the United Kingdom sight unseen, aiming to start a new practice and a new life with his wife and young daughter.
Khan says he began looking for work in Canada in June 2024, but visa delays, expenses and paperwork made it a difficult journey.
He says he spoke with people "from different parts of Canada … people from Alberta, from Ontario, all over, but none from Brandon."
Out of frustration, he turned to a friend who had a connection with someone working at the Brandon Regional Health Centre, who connected him with people who sold him on taking a job in the city, Khan says.
Khan says he had no idea how in demand doctors are, admitting he was worried he wouldn't get many patients. Already, he's seeing about 25 to 30 patients a day.
"It was a surprise for me, my first day when I started my clinic, people had no family doctor for six years — six years —and they've been going for a same-day walk-in … waiting to see a doctor for three hours," he said.
Khan says the urgent need for doctors in Canada is not reflected in the immigration process.
He secured his position through a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) — an application to the federal government done by a company seeking to hire a person from outside of Canada because they can't fill the job locally — but says it's a lengthy process that can be tricky for physicians and clinics to navigate.
"The urgency is there, then I think things should be very quicker," he said. "[LMIA] is getting much more difficult, which is not reflecting what Canada is going through."
Khan, who originally hails from Pakistan, brings with him more than a decade of health-care experience from the U.K. In 2014 he began working for England's National Health Service, started training to be a family physician in 2017 and began practising in 2021.
However, he says, the job prospects were limited so he began to consider settling in Canada, an appealing prospect because his training would be recognized.
Recruiting efforts expensive
Khan is among four foreign-trained doctors recently hired by Brandon Clinic. Its CEO, Darcy Bell, says they had to look outside of Canada to hire.
It costs the clinic about $10,000 upfront for each recruiting attempt, but that doesn't guarantee finding a doctor, Bell says. They've had several LMIAs — which last a year — expire before they found a doctor.
And even when they are successful it can take anywhere from six to 18 months to complete the paperwork work needed for a work permit.
Brandon Clinic now has 39 doctors on the floor. But, Bell warns, demand keeps rising and at least 10 more doctors are needed to keep up with the growing Westman community.
A report from Health Canada estimates the country needs 23,000 family doctors immediately to fill the health-care gaps, and Doctors Manitoba says the province alone needs 375 to 400 more physicians.
Bell says there needs to be a more efficient process to get doctors into Canadian clinics, because employers can only move as fast as the paperwork allows.
"I think the [LMIA] is an unnecessary evil at this time. Everyone in the world knows there's a physician shortage, no matter where you are," he said.
Brandon Clinic isn't alone in its recruiting challenges.
Last year, Brandon's regional health authority, Prairie Mountain Health (PMH), recruited 32 physicians— many foreign-trained — but they still need another 40 to 45 doctors, says chief medical officer Dr. Adrien Fung.
It's difficult because Brandon is competing against bigger urban centres across Canada and the world, Fung says.
That's why PMH is focusing on showcasing why Brandon is a good place to work, and promoting word-of-mouth about the city that helps to land doctors like Khan.
"If we don't have community-level engagement, then we can't recruit," Fung said. "If we can't show people how good it is to just live here, how great it is to just be here in Manitoba, then we will fail as recruiters."
Meanwhile, Ingrid Been, an immigration consultant with Visa2Canada, says the process of recruiting foreign-trained doctors needs to be streamlined.
She wants to see economic regions such as Brandon get priority so it's easier for physicians to get visas, reduce the legal paperwork and connect with clinics in person.
"It's a huge bureaucratic system," Been said. "Of course, it needs to be regulated and, of course, it needs to be vetted. But I think the bureaucratic rules around it could be maybe more flexible … we know there's a big shortage."
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