Foreign Doctors in Quebec

MCCEE Study Groups There is a number of study groups for the MCCEE on Facebook and other online forum. It is worth doing a online search to find out whether there is one in your locality. The IMG Study Group is particularly active on Facebook. They offer workshops on a variety of subjects that you can join via Skype. ... https://www.facebook.com/imgstudygroup/

Interesting chart of the average purchase price of a home in the main cities across Canada - and the required salary.

An interesting ad produced by the Federation of General Practitioners in Quebec about the lack of family physicians in the province. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrMtzDpgBes

Q. Given the shortage of doctors in Quebec, is it easy to find a position? Can I send my application to any hospital? A. Finding a position in Quebec is not as easy as it looks. As a foreign doctor, you must understand that doctors’ recruitment in Quebec is based on a quota system. The Minister of Health and Social Services (MHSS) determines the quota per health institution every year. The objective of this policy is to ensure that the population has adequate access to health... care throughout the province. Of course, Quebec doctors and new graduates have priority over those positions. Therefore, foreign doctors have a better chance to land a position if they apply to hospitals where the quotas were not met. In the fall of each year, the MHSS determines the number of positions (called PREM ) available for family doctors and specialists. In the majority of facilities, the PREM are filled with local doctors. However, some hospitals (especially in remote areas) struggle to meet their quota. Therefore, after a first round of hiring, it is possible that some PREM remain open. During the second round (in January for family physicians and in March for specialists), hospitals that have not met their quota will be more open to hiring foreign doctors. Moreover, it is important to note that a hospital that seeks to hire a foreign doctor for a specific PREM must obtain the approval of Recrutement Santé Québec (the governmental agency responsible for the recruitment of foreign doctors), which, in turn, must consult with the Family Physicians’ Association and the Medical Specialists’ Association, accordingly. The associations will then reach out to their members to see if any local candidate is interested in the position in question (including students that have not yet graduated). Thus, even if a hospital is willing to hire a foreign doctor, it can be slowed down by the local associations’ requirements to give priority to their members.

Q. Should I move to Quebec first, and do the procedures for the restricted license from there? A. There are many ways to go about the restricted license, but as a rule of thumb, it is advisable to do the maximum procedures from your country of origine BEFORE moving to Quebec. And this is for many reasons. First, the procedures with Recrutement Santé Québec (RSQ) and the College of Physicians of Quebec (CPQ) take a long time and you have no guarantee to be granted a license u...ntil the very end. This is why RSQ and CPQ strongly recommend that you complete most steps before initiating your immigration procedures (ideally after you have successfully completed the traineeship). The entire process, from registering to RSQ to obtaining your license, can take anywhere from 12 to 24 months. Second, Quebec is looking for doctors who have an active practice. Thus, one of the admissibility criteria to the restricted license is to have practiced for 12 months over the last two years, from the day you submit your official request to the College of Physicians. This means that from the moment you leave your country, you have 12 months to pass the medical exam and submit your candidacy to to the College. This is a very short time, considering that most people take 4-6 months to study the exam, and that many will need to do the exam two times of more. Therefore, it is better to study and pass the exam from your country of origin. Finally, the whole process is costly in many respects. In addition to the administrative costs, you will have to support yourself financially for several months when arriving in Quebec, most notably during your 3-month traineeship and while waiting for your licence. It is therefore better to continue working in your country for as long as you can.