Many international medical graduates say they’ve switched careers because of the challenges they face in B.C.
As emergency rooms across some rural parts of the province had to close this weekend amid staffing shortages, some internationally trained doctors say the barriers to practise in Canada have forced them to seek a different career.
Honieh Barzegari, who earned her degree as a family physician in Iran before immigrating to Canada, says she’s been advocating for international medical graduates (IMGs) and a change in the province’s health-care system to make it easier for foreign-trained doctors to practise in B.C.
“The system is set up to fail international medical graduates rather than empowering them to be able to practise here,” Barzegari told CBC’s The Early Edition.
On Sunday, Interior Health announced that the South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver, B.C., would be closed from noon until 6 p.m. On Friday, emergency departments at Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital in Clearwater and the Ashcroft Hospital and Community Health Care Centre closed for the weekend.
