Patient care in Canada negatively impacted by loss of Saudi medical trainees
A new editorial by Dr Matthew Stanbrook published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) states that the sudden loss of Saudi medical trainees who must leave Canada in the next two weeks will negatively affect patient care, and that this should serve as a wake-up call to governments to increase the number of funded residency and fellowship positions for Canadian medical students.
A new editorial by Dr Matthew Stanbrook published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) states that the sudden loss of Saudi medical trainees who must leave Canada in the next two weeks will negatively affect patient care, and that this should serve as a wake-up call to governments to increase the number of funded residency and fellowship positions for Canadian medical students.
Saudi Arabian students across Canada have been told to leave the country by the end of August due to a diplomatic row between the two nations, which means 16,000 Saudi students, including 800 medical trainees will be leaving Canada.
Dr Stanbrook, a respirologist at Toronto Western Hospital and Deputy Editor of CMAJ, said: “Canada's health and education systems must never be vulnerable to spontaneous decisions of a foreign government. Our ability to meet the present and future healthcare needs of our population, while safeguarding the mission of our academic centres, is not something we can afford to contract out. As the medical community has responded overwhelmingly with shock, sympathy and support for our Saudi colleagues, academic health centres have been scrambling to adjust service and on-call coverage left vacant. The impact this will have on safe and timely healthcare delivery to Canadian patients remains to be seen, but an effect on physicians and other trainees in these centres in terms of workload and stress is already being felt.”
Dr Stanbrook also said that Canada will continue to welcome internationally funded trainees – including Saudis, as future diplomatic relations allow – because the country wants them, rather than needs them.