Alberta has 22 family medicine residency training positions still unfilled

Alberta has the highest number of unfilled medical residency positions in a decade after a second round of matching ended with 22 family medicine training spots vacant.

The Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS), which connects medical school graduates with medical residency training positions across the country, released its second-round matching results on Thursday.

Twenty-eight of the 110 unfilled positions across Canada are in Alberta, most of which are in family medicine.

"The CaRMS matches are a huge signal that action is needed," Alberta Medical Association president Dr. fred Rinaldi said in a message posted on the organization's website Thursday. "More must be done to stabilize and support family medicine and make it a more attractive specialty."

Rinaldi added that none of the other western Canadian provinces had family medicine vacancies after the second-round match.

After this year's second-round match, there are 15 vacant family medicine residencies at the University of Alberta and seven at the University of Calgary.

The U of A did not immediately respond to a request for an interview on Thursday afternoon.

Scott Johnston, press secretary for Health Minister Jason Copping, said in a statement the province will work with the universities to "explore options to fill the remaining positions," including offering positions to international medical graduates (IMGs) who want to practice in Alberta.

Only Canadian medical graduates are eligible to match in the second round in Alberta. Johnston said the government is now reconsidering that policy.

The province also has 40 dedicated residency training spots for IMGs, which the government plans to expand to 70 positions during the next few years.

The government also plans to ramp up the number of medical student training positions in Edmonton and Calgary by 60 in each city during the next three years, he said.

Although the government points to 93 per cent of residency positions now filled in the province, the proportion of residencies unfilled after the second round is the highest in a decade, according to numbers CBC News compiled. In 2020 there were no vacancies.

NDP health critic and MLA David Shepherd said front-line health-care workers are exhausted and deeply concerned there will not be enough family doctors trained in the province to meet patient demand, as the population grows.

Shepherd said medical students who watched the UCP government unilaterally tear up a contract with doctors in 2020 are now looking elsewhere to start their careers.

"These are Albertans who are saying, no thank you. I do not want to work as a family doctor under this government," he said.

With an election likely on May 29, the NDP is promising to create family health clinics where younger doctors could work as part of a team without starting their own business.

Shepherd said it would make family medicine more attractive by allowing physicians to spend more time with patients and less on paperwork and administration.