In an attempt to fill in the void for general physicians, family physicians and specialty physicians, in the province, Nova Scotia has created a new immigration stream that promises to ease the rules of bringing home medical professionals from other lands.
Lack of sufficient medical practitioners of all forms, be it general physicians, family physicians or specialty physicians, in the province of Nova Scotia will soon be a thing of the past , promised the Immigration Minister Lena Diab while making the announcement on Thursday at Pier 21.
Talking of the new immigration scheme, Diab further revealed that the Physician Stream will be only open to general practitioners and family physicians (NOC 3112) and specialist physicians (NOC 3111). Also, these physicians would need a job offer approved by either the Nova Scotia Health Authority or the Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre (IWK), both of which are based in the province’s capital city, Halifax.
The stream is designed to speed up the immigration process for physicians by reducing the amount of paperwork involved. To this end, the Nova Scotia’s immigrant nominee program, the NSNP, says it will rely on credential assessments performed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia in an attempt to eliminate duplication.
The news comes amidst the ongoing paucity of health and medical practitioners in the Canadian Province. In a news release, the province introduced Dr. Jamie Tribo, the first physician to be recruited to Nova Scotia under the new stream.
“We are looking forward to our move to Nova Scotia,” said Dr. Tribo, who is at the moment practicing in the United State and plans to set up a family practice in Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton region soon.
“Obtaining a medical license in another country means clearing a lot of hurdles and paperwork before even beginning on immigration requirements. This new immigration program has made the process much simpler and shorter for us, and our recruiter has been a big help along the way,” he added.
Dr. Lynne Harrigan, vice-president of medicine and integrated health with the NSHA, while talking on the benefits that the new immigration stream promises to usher said, “We are operating in a competitive environment across Canada and internationally. This stream provides our province a much-needed advantage.”
The Nova Scotia Office of Immigration (NSOI) and the NSHA have together undertaken the task of recruiting able doctors from the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2018, thus promising to end the problem of dearth of physicians in the area.
