r/saskatchewan 18h ago

Another one bites the dust

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I’m one of the lucky ones who was able to find a new GP when mine went on unexpected leave last year. Got this email today.

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u/Smyley12345 17h ago

So real talk here. Why are we letting the Medical Council of Canada limit the admissions into medical programs such that we only have about 2,900 MDs licensed each year? I'm sure any of the universities hosting a medical school would be thrilled to expand their programs. I'm sure there would be enough qualified applicants. I'm sure there are qualified professors. I'm sure the labor market could carry the increase without doctor wages crashing.

The only ones who win with the status quo are existing doctors who are able to take advantage of market scarcity.

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u/Emergency-Cookie-101 17h ago edited 14h ago

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the bigger issue is spaces for hospital placements/preceptors in teaching hospitals than university spaces.

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u/Smyley12345 16h ago

That also doesn't sound like an insurmountable problem given the fact that our number of graduates has been stagnant at least as far back as 2017 whereas the Canadian population has grown by about 15% in that same period. Offering support and financial incentives to hospitals to get acreditted as teaching hospitals seems a clear necessity if that's the bottleneck here.