now we don't have to tell you about the severe shortage of family doctors in Canada many closing shop because of stress pay and administrative work some even leaving the country so it might surprise you to learn that an experienced American physician who has a job and patients waiting here in Canada is fighting bureaucratic red tape to get here ctv's AIS favro has the story inside this medical clinic near GF Ontario are patient exam rooms sitting empty as our storage space for now with over a thousand people waiting for a family doctor here the husband and
wife Physicians who run the clinic can't meet the demand 6 to 10 times a day can you accept someone as a patient and I have over 1600 patients and I just can't keep saying no we need help Manu and puak Kik hired an American doctor Ashley Duncan she wants to move to Ontario it's closer to her parents in Michigan and she and husband Matt like the safe and lifestyle in Canada but she's been waiting two years and counting I would just like to see the process be more transparent um and to be quicker Duncan described
a long bureaucratic process saying it took nine months for her medical credentials to be certified discovered her application with immigration Canada uses a point system and that she didn't have enough to be allowed to apply to immigrate we didn't work in Canada so we lost points for that we don't have um you know first-degree relatives in Canada so he lost points for that the Canadian Clinic also had to provide a labor market impact assessment for permission to bring her in as a foreign worker which was then rejected because the clinic itself wouldn't be paying her
they wouldn't approve the lmia because I'm going to be paid by the government um which just does not make any sense it doesn't make sense to the patients here either despite what we hear that they're trying to FasTrack people to come into Canada he's having over two years of problems he he cannot get this person to come in and it's mindboggling immigration Refugee and citizenship Canada told CTV News in a statement it continues to prioritize work permit applications from workers in 24 essential occupations in healthcare but with 6.5 million Canadians without Primary Care getting more
family doctors into the system quickly is critical I think the will is there I I I just don't think the system is set up to be um efficient uh at this at this stage if we don't get help how long can we sustain this this is not sustainable the medical Council of Canada which is the entry point for Physicians who want to work here says it's working on a strategic plan to help them navigate this complex system Dr Duncan meanwhile says her application is still in progress and she's waiting say all right it was good
to have you here today
