As N.L. looks to Ireland for doctors, the NLMA's president says shortage isn't just about recruiting
There is 'major difficulty' convincing people N.L. is a good place to work, says president of the NLMA
As stories about emergency room wait times, health facility closures and staffing shortages in Newfoundland and Labrador's health-care system pile up, the provincial government is looking outside Canada for help.
As the provincial health minister left for Ireland to recruit health-care workers, Premier Andrew Furey spoke with the CBC's Rosemary Barton on Friday about the province's efforts.
Furey said he wants to make sure international doctors know Newfoundland and Labrador is a choice for them, citing similarities between the province and Ireland, the university, and the community of Irish physicians already in Newfoundland and Labrador as assets.
"So it is an obvious first place for us to start. But I'm telling you now, we won't stop there. We'll go beyond Ireland, into places like South Africa in particular and beyond."
A perfect storm
Furey described the pandemic combined with a shift in how people want to practise as "a perfect storm." To fill the gaps in the system, he said, enrolment in medical professional schools in the province has increased by 25 to 35 per cent.
But, he said, even that won't "fully fulfil the issue at hand."
Furey said recruiting other doctors to Newfoundland and Labrador is not necessarily "brain drain," a term used to describe trained professionals leaving one country for another.
"If you truly look at and examine the economics of the mobility of these people and migration in general, it often has significant economic returns to the area they're coming from and also offers development for them as a country as well," he said.
Local retention
Dr. Kris Luscombe, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association, said recruiting doctors from Ireland is strategic because of the similarities in training and culture, and it recognizes the importance of attracting internationally trained doctors in the province.
He said the physicians have credentials that are globally desirable but the system also needs to focus on retaining doctors who are trained within the province.
"Really, the mainstay of our physician resourcing should come from local recruitment," he said.
"Memorial University is a world-class university. [It] trains some of the best physicians in Canada and in the world. And so we have to definitely ensure that we are making Newfoundland a desirable place for those trainees from Newfoundland to want to work. Newfoundland's a great place to live. We're having a major difficulty convincing people it's a good place to work."
He said Newfoundland and Labrador needs to become a competitive place for locally and internationally trained physicians.
In the association's most recent annual survey, 26 per cent of respondents — a percentage that would represent just over 136,000 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians — reported they do not have a family physician. Luscombe said the percentage has been rising each year.
Luscombe said Health Minister Tom Osborne has been working with the association to plan government initiatives, particularly in physician recruitment and retention.
"Historically, many of these issues have not been attended to, they've been neglected and we have seen the consequences of this, whereby family medicine has become an undesirable job. Young physicians aren't choosing to become family doctors or work in the community."
Luscombe points to the shared agenda from the Department of Health as an example of working toward recruitment and retention in the province.
"It's not just about recruiting doctors from Ireland. We have to retain the doctors that are here that are committed and are holding up the system," he said.
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