A Sarnia born, foreign-trained family doctor is having trouble returning to Canada to practice medicine.
Dr. Duncan Innes said the biggest issues he's facing are the inefficiency, lack of guidance, cost and lag time that can develop.
He said by the time he graduates residency at Michigan's McLaren Macomb Hospital in June, he could be waiting upwards of six months before being able to actually practice in Ontario.
"Essentially, that's because it takes the Medical Council of Canada upwards of 12 weeks to verify a single document, and then on top of that, the CPSO (College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario), they take 12 weeks to review my application and issue me my license. So that, in itself, is a big obstacle, a big barrier that a lot of us face."
Innes graduated from Sarnia's Northern Collegiate and then went to Laurier University for his undergrad. He spent his first two years of medical school in Saint Kitts before travelling around the US for the next two years doing clinical rotations. He then settled in Michigan for three years of family medicine residency training.
Innes said when the Canadian government okayed his work visa, he was given a two-year return-of-service, meaning he had to come back and work in Canada once he completed his training.
"That's all fine and dandy, but then when I try to come back and work, you're going to tell me that I'm going to be out of work for six months. It doesn't really add up too well. So, that's why a lot of Canadians training in the US end up staying there. It's just easier to get a contract there and stay there," he said. "And when you do this process of going through med school and everything, they don't really tell you that you're going to have this lag time or anything, or that it's going to be this difficult to come back."
Innes is hoping to take over for a retiring Sarnia doctor this fall and is planning to start accepting patient applications this spring or summer.
Innes believes the province could do more to streamline the process.
"[Premier] Doug Ford has kind of opened the door a little bit, at least interprovincially, but I think that's just kind of really moving around the same parts. You're not really funding anything further a whole lot in way of trying to get us back or anything like that, which isn't really a solution I don't think."
Innes said allowing Canadian citizens to cut the queue would be a great idea. At the moment, he's essentially thrown in the queue with every other foreign-trained doctor.
"I think we're a low-hanging fruit that's kind of a quick-fix where you could have us -- especially, as long as we have a job lined up -- allow us to cut that queue and go to the top of the list in order to have our application reviewed and implement our license sooner."
Innes said moving people interprovincially and saying you're going to increase residency spots are great things, but bringing Canadian citizens back to practice would provide immediate benefits.
"My mom, everybody she runs into is always saying 'oh when's Duncan coming back to practice, I need a doctor, or I can't get into my doctor' or sometimes you just don't click with them. So, there's a huge need for it."
Innes also said there's also a lack of guidance for doctors in his position.
"There's no real universal website where you can be like, this is what I've done so far, this is where I trained, this is what I've done to come back to Canada so far, which pathway can I take to come back or what do I need to do that's left? There's nothing really on there that guides you in that way."
Innes said he and Blue Coast Primary Care Recruitment Coordinator Carly Cox had a meeting with Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey about their concerns. Innes said Bailey was very receptive and agreed to bring these concerns to Queen's Park.