Doctor Shortage

This week the Ontario provincial government announced plans to allow foreign trained doctors to gain professional licensing in Ontario a little easier. After my blog about the physician shortage in India it seems somewhat hypocritical to lure doctors away from other countries. I do not have the answer to the problem as I have many friends that are foreign trained physicians and they’ve cared for my friends and family. Foreign trained doctors have also been the main reason people in Ontario are able to see family doctors. In fact, I would likely have no OR time were it not for foreign trained anaesthetists.

I do know this however; the shortage is a world wide problem. Since I follow news related to doctor shortages on my RSS feeder here is an idea of the number of stories in just the last 2½ days:

Canada
Ontario, Canada To Open Doors To Foreign Doctors To Ease Physician ... doctors might soon be lifted in Ontario and efforts made to speed up their applications in an effort to ease the physician shortage in the province. ...
AHN, Globe & Mail, Times of India
Cities use pricey perks to lure doctors
But a growing number of Canadian communities facing a critical shortage of doctors are pulling out all the stops in a desperate attempt to lure health-care ...
Globe and Mail, Canada - 21 hours ago
Teamwork on med school
GRAPPLING with a widespread shortage of doctors – especially family physicians – is a problem that all provinces face. Many older doctors are close to or at ...
TheChronicleHerald.ca, Canada - 17 hours ago

United States
Redesign flawed health care system
By NANCY FUGATE WOODS In the guest column "Primary care shortage undermines the health of everyone in the US" (May 16), Dr. Eric Larson identified the ...
Seattle Post Intelligencer - 14 hours ago
Sick system - Anchorage Daily News
And ignores the physician shortage -- more pronounced in Alaska, but affecting other parts of the country as well -- that prevents competition from holding ...
Anchorage Daily News (subscription), AK - 6 hours ago
Arkansas Business: Doctor Shortage Hurts Rural Areas
"The shortage is going to be most acute in the rural [areas]," Wilson said. "And it's going to be a huge problem." For more on the doctor shortage in ...
Today's THV, AR - 23 hours ago

UK
TRUST DENIES PLAN TO CLOSE CASUALTY UNIT
A doctor shortage led to Singleton's minor casualty unit closing on Tuesday night last week, sparking chaos as patients were switched to Morriston Hospital. ... South Wales Evening Post

South Africa
EL doctors threaten ‘work to rule’ action
They claim the complex has a shortage of 144 doctors and demand that management presents them with a plan to address this by Friday. The doctors – at both ...
Dispatch Online, South Africa - 11 hours ago

Malasyia
Former Government Doctors Urged To Offer Services Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said this was necessary as government hospitals were facing a shortage of doctors as about 300 quit public service ...
Bernama, Malaysia - 13 hours ago

Australia
Doctors needed
Their new health centre in Maxwell St is moving ahead in leaps and bounds, however, they are plagued by a serious doctor shortage. ...Wellington Times, Australia - Jun 8, 2008
Dandenong GP shortage means long wait for care
A DOCTOR drought gripping Dandenong, Noble Park and Keysborough is stretching GPs to the limit. The latest figures from the Primary Health Care Research and ...Dandenong Leader, Australia - Jun 8, 2008

Pakistan
Civil Hospital faces doctors’ shortage
The shortage of doctors aggravated the situation when retirement, promotion and transfer of three senior doctors were made within a week. ...The Post, Pakistan - Jun 7, 2008

Trinidad
Sando hospital suffers nurses shortage
In a note to reporters Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh claimed Narace’s figures showed there were 215 vacant doctor posts out of the 711 positions across ... Trinidad News, Trinidad and Tobago - 23 hours ago