Here's why..
Just go through this..
This is a post from another forum, but its quite on the mark.
"It is a fact that of all the IMG's that come to Canada, 90-95% will not obtain a residency. The few that do, do so, after either years and years of trying, or, because they know people in high places who 'pull strings' for them.
Just visit
www.carms.ca and see how few IMG's get a residency in Canadian match every year. There are currently 12,000 (twelve thousand) IMG's in Canada, actively seeking a residency position. In Ontario alone, there are currently over 4000 (four thousand) foreign doctors with no job and no residency.
Then you have all this talk about being able to get a residency in Canada 'outside the match'. Where? How? Don't just hear that and think that your set, you must have facts! The only ones that will be able to take advantage of this are those with some serious 'inside' connections. Their rumors, and hearsay are bogus, and we all know it. I definitely won't plan out my medical career based on the 'doors will open up' theory. Because quite frankly in Canada they never will, definitely not for graduates of foreign medical schools.
Across Canada there are thousands and thousands of desperate foreign trained doctors. Some of them are outright Canadian Citizens! Of those several thousand, only around 700 - 800 are able to pass the Canadian board exams that make them eligible to apply for a residency in Canada.
Of those 700 - 800 that fullfill all these requirements needed just to apply, only 10% will obtain a residency position (it has varied between 4% and 16% over the past 10 years). Also, those residency positions are the left over ones, that NO Canadian medical graduate wanted.
Verification:
www.carms.ca/stats/stats_index.htm
www.carms.ca/stats/stats2004.htm
In the Canadian Residency Match, 93% of all residency positions in Canada are filled by graduates of Canadian medical schools. The only residencies available to IMG's are those left over 2 year rural Family Practice spots, that NO Canadian medical graduate wanted. In Canada, Family Practice is only a 2 year program, in the United States it is a 3 year program. So in Canada you are getting basically 2/3 of the educational time you would compared to the U.S. Also, many of those left over FP spots in the second iteration are rural spots, so if you did get one, your opportunity to learn is very limited, because of the small patient population.
It amazes me that highly qualified foreign medical graduates, allow the Canadian medical system to degrade and humiliate them like this. IMGs, have some pride! Do not let CaRMS, MCC, OIMGP and other Canadian medical organizations rip you off of your hard earned dollars. Because in the end, in Canada, you will have lost a lot of years and money and will have nothing to show for it, except your used airplane ticket.
Basically, after getting your M.D. from a foreign medical school you would have to:
1) Pass the MCCEE
2) Pass the required English tests (TOEFL, TSE)
3) Apply to the Ontario IMG program Clerkship (which is NOT residency by the way, it is just one year of pre-residency training. It is an UNPAID position. Actually you have to pay $2000 to be in this program)
4) There are hundreds and hundreds of applicants for the 50 spots that the Ontario IMG program offers, so they narrow it down with two tests
5) First test: IMG exam, from which the top 200 are selected
6) Second test: OSCE exam, from which the final 50 are selected, for this PRE-residency UNPAID program.
(the above application process is about a year long, so one year lost)
7) If selected, you must complete this one year, pre-residency, unpaid program
(a second year lost, as this is essentially another year with no job)
8) After all this is completed successfully, then you are eligible to APPLY for a residency in Ontario.
(so in total, you lose two years of your life, trying to become eligible to apply for a residency in Ontario)
ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS PROCESS.
9) In Ontario you cannot enter the first or second round of the Canadian CARMS residency match, you have to wait until after the second round. And after the second round there is nothing left. Keep in mind that there are 4000 (four thousand) IMG's in Ontario and 12,000 (twelve thousand) IMG's across Canada, who are actively seeking a residency position or employment as a physician in Canada. There are several thousands more IMG's who are in Canada but have long given up on this process.
Reality my dear friends. Reality.
The Practice Ready and PGY-2 positions are only for those IMG's who have completed a residency or at least some post graduate training in their home country. So this is not an option for Canadians who have gone abroad for their MD degrees.
As for the PGY-1 Family Practice positions -> Family Practice in Canada is a only a 2 year program. As a result, you don't really learn anything. These positions are basically the scraps that the Canadian government throws (like left over meat to stray dogs) to desperate IMG's in the country. Worthless.
The only thing available to IMG's outside of Ontario (other Canadian provinces) is some other worthless, left over, two year rural family practice spot that NO Canadian medical graduate wanted, not to mention that it will be in some boony town where it is -30 (minus thirty) degrees celcius everyday with a non-diverse population, up north (eg goose bay, labrador, or north battleford, saskatchewan).
Will you honestly be happy with this?
The Doctor shortage in Canada.
By now I am sure all of you have heard about this. But don't get too excited. Yes there is a doctor shortage in Canada. But the way Canada is solving that doctor shortage is by increasing the number of spots at Canadian medical schools. Every medical school across Canada has increased enrollment.
In addition Canada has decided to open up a new medical school in Northern Ontario which will produce a new batch of Canadian medical graduates (Canadian MDs) that will be used to solve the doctor shortage.
New Northern Ontario Medical School:
www.normed.ca
Think about it! There are 12,000 (twelve thousand) foreign trained doctors across Canada with no job and no residency, 4000 (four thousand) of them are in Ontario. They have passed the Canadian exams (MCCEE, MCCQE), they are ready to work now! . . . AND there is a doctor shortage. Why doesn't Canada provide opportunities for them? Why all this effort and money into this new Canadian medical school?
Because the bottom line is that despite a doctor shortage, Canada will never provide jobs to graduates of foreign medical schools, even if you are a Canadian citizen. Canada only wants graduates of Canadian medical schools.
Canada has ruined the lives of thousands of foreign doctors for the past twenty years.
When I was younger, I always wondered why foreign doctors immigrated to Canada, when it is a world wide known fact that Canada is career suicide for them. Well the reason is as follows: Canadian Embassies around the world lie to foreign doctors.
These embassies tell them Oh yes, come to Canada, we need doctors!. So these foreign doctors, pack up, and immigrate with their families (spouse, children) to Canada. They have to bring with them at least $10,000 and pay an additional $1500 to land in Canada. Canada has an immigration quota of 250,000 per year. So please do the math, 250,000 multiplied by $10,000 each equals a whopping 2.5 Billion dollars that Canada gains from immigrants every year.
However, after they arrive, Canada shuts the door in their face and tells them that their foreign credentials are not good enough and that they need to pass a series of expensive tests and do additional unpaid training. Shame on those Canadian embassies!
This forces the foreign doctors to get minimum wage jobs like factory work, driving taxi cabs or delivering pizzas, and to try whatever they can to support themselves and their families. They have passed the Canadian exams (MCCEE, MCCQE), applied for residency positions with CaRMS year after year, yet the end result is nothing. This is the tragedy associated with immigration to Canada.
If there are virtually no opportunities for foreign medical graduates in Canada, then why don't foreign doctors, who have come to Canada, take the USMLE's and apply for residency in the United States?
Great question. The reasons are as follows:
Not every IMG can go to United States. They have families and can't relocate their children for residency time and then move somewhere else.
Their spouse often doesn't want to move to U.S., this is especially a problem for ethnic women who have married a man who is living in Canada and does not want to move or compromise for his wife.
Many IMG's are rejected by the U.S. embassy in Canada, to go to the U.S. to take the CSA and USMLE Step 3. So they have no other choice but to stay in Canada and take those useless Canadian medical licensing exams.
A lot of IMG's, are scared of USMLE Step 1. Because that exam is based on the first two years of medical school, and most IMG's have long forgotten those subjects.
Other reasons include insecurity, lack of self confidence, refusal to face reality, being very stubborn, unwilling to accept accurate advice, and lack of knowledge about the fact that there are virtually no opportunitites in Canada for foreign medical graduates.
You would be surprised at how many foreign doctors that have come to Canada have beed lied to and deceived by the Canadian embassies and the Canadian medical organizations. "
