I don't how anybody else feels. Here in Canada our problem of good doctors leaving is nothing short of failure on our governments part. I have had not a perm. doctor in years due to the fact that mine keep moving to the U.S. I know this because I ask them I can't seem to nail down a family doctor to stay in practice here.


Erin Henderson
Canadian Press

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Dr. Albert Schumacher, President of the Canadian Medical Association. (CP handout photo /Canadian Medical Association)

TORONTO (CP) - A shortage of homegrown physicians, combined with the aggressive recruitment of Canadian doctors by other countries, is a "perfect storm" that threatens Canada's health-care reforms, the president of the Canadian Medical Association said Wednesday.

Dr. Albert Schumacher said doctors in Canada who face 80-hour work weeks and ever-greater numbers of patients are either drastically reducing their patient loads or closing up shop and leaving to work in other countries.

Part of the solution is more money for doctor training to ensure medical schools are producing more doctors, Schumacher told a breakfast audience at the Toronto Board of Trade.

"Increasing the number of medical students trained in Canada is an important step towards self-sufficiency in terms of the physician resources we need to meet the needs of our patients," he said.

A recent survey conducted in part by the association found 60 per cent of family doctors have either closed their practices or are limiting the number of new patients they see, he added.

As many as 3,800 doctors are expected to retire in the next two years and 15,000 more plan to reduce their working hours.

Schumacher said medical students also need help to deal with the crushing debt they end up facing, in some cases as much as $120,000. Students are usually still in training when they're forced to start paying back student loans.

He urged Ottawa to invest more money in post-graduate residency programs to allow them to expand their capacity and handle more would-be doctors.

Increase the system's capacity by "several hundred" doctors by next July and the doctor shortage would begin to abate within three years, he added.

Health professionals are frustrated by having to scramble to secure the treatment they require, said Schumacher, whose own practice is based in Windsor, Ont., near Detroit.

He said many Canadian patients are opting to pay for treatment in the U.S.

"More of my patients are going across the border . . .for simple diagnostic tests - CAT scans, MRIs and so forth - at a rate that they didn't used to go across, and that is increasing."

Ottawa and the provinces inked a deal in September for $41-billion in increased health care funding over 10 years. But Schumacher warned there's still plenty of work to do, including establishing benchmarks for wait times.

© The Canadian Press 2004

http://www.canada.com/health/story....c9-e59dded944a5

___________________
"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people."