Record number of foreign MDs licenced in Ont.

A steady rise in the number of physicians licensed in Ontario suggests the province is making progress towards filling the doctor shortage, the body that regulates doctors said Tuesday.

A new report by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario shows a record number of doctors were granted licences in the province last year, continuing a decade-long trend.

More than a third were from abroad, the data show.

"This is the crest of a wave that we're riding and we hope it goes on," the college's president, Dr. Lynne Thurling, said Tuesday.

"We're hoping to answer what has been called the doctor shortage," she said. "It would be difficult to say that that need will be fulfilled in a certain time frame, but that's certainly what we're working towards."

The college's annual registration report indicates 3,708 licences were issued in 2010, up from 3,638 in 2009. Forty-one per cent of those went to doctors trained abroad, while 37 per cent went to Ontario physicians.

About 700 went to doctors from other provinces, and another 90 to those from the United States.

Similar changes are playing out across the country, said Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull, president of the Canadian Medical Association.

"That's come as a result of a very thoughtful and informed decision to increase the number of graduates" from Canadian medical schools and bring in as many as possible from abroad, he said.

Similarly, the Ontario report attributes the increase in licences to rising enrolment and residency positions at Canadian universities, as well as government efforts to recruit physicians in other countries.

More residency spots have also been reserved for international medical graduates — 200 each year, more than all other provinces combined, according to the ministry of health.

Health Minister Deb Matthews said the findings bode well for Ontarians.

"What this is telling us is that after years of the brain drain, of losing doctors to other jurisdictions, we've actually reversed that and more doctors are coming to practise in Ontario than leaving," she told reporters Tuesday.

"What it means for people is better access to primary care, shorter wait times."

The minister said 1.2 million more people have access to a doctor than they did in 2003, when the Liberals took office.

An estimated 850,000 people in Ontario don't have a family doctor.

Turnbull said it's not enough to simply boost the number of doctors.

"This is all a positive sign — more doctors means more care — but we now have to think of where's our greatest need of doctors," in terms of location and areas of specialization, he said.

"We really need a national strategy" to help manage human resources and deal with the changing needs of the population, he added.