International medical graduates: the Medicentres experience

The influx of foreign medical graduates into Canada presents both opportunity and challenges. The opportunity to increase the number of suitably and appropriately qualified providers to meet the demands of an aging and increasingly infirm population is clear. Some of the pressures on the health system could be met by integrating these graduates. However, identifying those with the necessary knowledge and skills to function at the same standard as Canadian graduates is challenging because the training and skills of many graduates is substandard requiring extensive rehabilitation. Furthermore there is a substantial deficiency of an evaluation/licensing pathway and funding for such an initiative.