Doctors
in Canada
It’s funny how we have a doctor shortage in
Canada, yet we have a foreign trained doctors giving up on pursuing their
careers in Health care as Canada doesn’t recognize their licenses. If our
government would concentrate on a solution to this problem we would have the
doctors we so desperately need.
We are one of
the lowest ranking countries at the moment when it comes to doctor patient
ratios, whereas ten years ago we were praised for our great heath care system. In Canada’s past woman used to be midwifes,
and they took care of woman having babies. Our male doctors in Canada believed
that having a baby was a medical condition that needed assistances of an able
bodied male, not a natural occurrence. They then launched a campaign and it
was put into effect, which made the prestige of the work go up, as well as the
price. (Foster, 2008) The women are
finally back into the child birthing process but white males are still the
dominating factor in Canada’s Heath Care System. Foreign trained doctors are
leaving the heath care field from lack of money or resources to pursue a career
in other areas. Someone born in Canada has many avenues to take in order to get
the help needed to start practicing, and foreign trained doctors have no
available avenues in Canada to help them. To me this is bewildering. I do not see how this makes sense to any
rational person never mind our government who are supposed to be looking out
for Canadians best interests. In ten years from now if nothing is done
concerning this issue I am scared to see what will happen. People dying because
they cannot get the proper heath care from a physician? 24 hour wait in a
hospital to see a doctor? I am worried that things will continue to stay the same
and our health care system will continue to decline in order to keep it
predominantly white male. (Foster, 2008)
Predominantly definition: Having greatest
ascendancy, importance, influence, authority, or force (Farlex, 2012)
I think that everyone should be seen as equal,
as Canada is supposed to be about equality and not about the country you came
from or trained in. This paper I read has opened my eyes to the realty of the
issue of racism still going on in the Canadian society today.
Kate
Works Cited
Farlex. (2012). The Free
Dictionary. (F. Inc, Editor) Retrieved Novemeber 20, 2012, from The Free
Dictionary .com: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/predominantly
Foster, L. (2008, June 20). Foreign
Trained Doctors in Canada: Cultural Contingency and Cultural . International
Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, 1, 1-25.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed your entry. I found it short and sweet. I also agree that I believe that there is no reason that we should have a shortage of doctors. Someone close to me who is elderly, recently had to leave the province and move to Alberta because she could not find a doctor here in the Sault, and a walk-in clinic is not sufficient when you have serious medical conditions. She felt that she would have an overall better chance at recieving the proper health care and finding a doctor in Alberta than here, which was extremely upsetting to me. Something needs to be done.
-Lyndsay
The shortage of doctors in Canada was something I was aware of in Sault Ste. Marie, although I was not aware it was so bad everywhere in Ontario. When my family moved here about five years ago, it took a several years for us to get a family doctor.
ReplyDeleteI would hope that there would be some program in place for foreign doctors to be informed on specific Canadian medical practices so that they would be eligible to treat people in Canada. If we are in such need of doctors here, we should be more accomadating to those who wish to practice here.
-Selina
I enjoyed your blog!! I definitly knew that there was a shortage of doctors here in sault ste. marie, but I didn't realize it was a problem throughout Ontario as well. I know that doctors do not want to relocate here not only because it is a small city, but because they may want to pratice where they are from. I find that doctors that have a tie to Sault Ste. Marie tend to be the ones who come back here, or those who are single and are looking for experience. My partners family was on a wait list for a doctor for 8 years after they moved here, and they had the opportunity for a Nurse Practitioner first, so they took it, because who knows how long they would have waited for a doctor. I have my own doctor and still have challenges just trying to get an appointment for a check up, one time I wanted 6 months to get an appointment, and called every single day. I think they have to come up with some new strategies to get doctors to come and practice in this area, as well as other places in Ontario.
ReplyDeleteI feel that doctors from other countries should have the opporunity to be able to have a practice in Canada. I feel that they should have to take a course to make sure that everyone is educated properly, or even do some sort of residency for a year, but after that I don't see why they are not educated enough to treat people in Canada. Especially when there is such a need for doctors, and many people go without the medical attention that they need.
Alysha (LGBT group)
Wow reading this really opened my eyes and everyone should know that this is all true and a reality. Its really sad to see that the one thing we need most there is a shortage not even just in sault ste. marie but the whole province. I feel that doctors around the world should want to help and make out country healthy and happy, since we are the peace keepers.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa
The idea about having a health care system is that when something is wrong with your body, you go see a professional about it to find out what the problem is and how to fix it. The reality in Canada is that by the time you actually get an appointment, your pain and suffering is pretty much passed, or worse, it's too late for anything to be done. There is an elderly woman I help care for in my hometown that was prescribed "until-you-see-your-specialist" pills for a certain condition. These temporary solution pills ended up damaging her vision because of the combination with other medication. Would she have had an appointment with her specialist earlier, he (most likely) would have been able to correct that doctor's mistake. But by the time her appointment came around, she was practically blind. The mistake of one doctor and the ridiculous wait to see a physician specialized in his field cost this woman her eye-sight and independence. It's great that our health care gets paid for, but what good does it do when you can't get it when you need it?
ReplyDelete~Valerie
I agree with you in regards to not having enough doctors and Canada not recognizing foreign licenses. I believe that Canada should help these foreign trained doctors find jobs and provide an additional training program if needed to meet Canada’s health care regulations. Since there is such a shortage of doctors it often affects the care provided to patients. From personal experience, I feel that some doctors just prescribe medications rather than taking the time to fully understand the patient’s needs and work with them due to time constraints. Also, they should have the right to practice in other countries and be accepted regardless of their race or ethnic background. Personally, I agree with you and believe that this needs to change.
ReplyDeleteKristen – Mental Illness Group
I think that, that's ridiculous medical training should be world-wide recognized because we all deserve the same health care. These people got their education like any "Canadian" would have to do. They should be aloud to practise the study of medicine in any country.
ReplyDelete- Elysha