Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 8, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press tuesday August 8, 2006 winnipegfreepress.coma3 top news foreign trained ads to get break . To compete with students for residency posts. Human rights complaint forced change by Dan Lett m Manitoba will become the first province in Canada to allow for eign trained doctors to compete head to head with Canadian medical students for essential Post graduate training positions. Starting in 2007, International medical graduates imps from across Canada will be allowed to apply to the first round of the Canadian resident Matching ser vice card which links medical graduates to residency positions across the country. In Manitoba there Are More than 90 residency positions available. Or. Chris Burnett medical director of physician resources with Manitoba health said both the province and the faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba Felt it was time to open up the Competition. This is intended to be a significant change said Burnett. There was a feel ing there was an appearance of Burnett said it was essential to make changes in Manitoba because of a Pend ing complaint filed at the Manitoba human rights commission by or. Daljit Singh a foreign trained doctor who complained systemic discrimination pre vented him from practising Medicine in Canada. Unable to reach a negotiated Settle ment Singh a complaint is now headed to adjudication where the province and the medical school could be forced to make significant changes to the process of licensing doctors. Myfanwy Bowman a lawyer with the Public interest Law Centre which has been representing Singh said the Deci Sion to open up the cards process is not a final solution for imps but it is Progress. This is not the end of the Story by any Means said Bowman. It will help some doctors but we Don to know How Many. It will make a difference for some imps have Long complained about being excluded from the first round of the cards process. Many imps require additional Post secondary training to be licensed to prac Tice Medicine in Canada. In May the association of faculties of Medicine in Canada a National organization comprised of the Deans of medi Cine from universities across Canada recommended greater Access for imps to the first round of resident Matching. Cards which is operated by a Pri vate company followed with changes to allow any province that wanted to open the Matching process to allow imps to compete. Despite this Only Manitoba and to some extent Quebec Are opening up the Competition. Or. Nick busing president of the association of faculties of Medicine in Canada said most provinces will continue to exclude imps from the first round of cards Competition. Some provinces like Ontario have elaborate parallel streams with separate residency positions for imps while oth ers like Alberta restrict Access to those imps who live in the province busing noted. Ultimately the Deans would like to see a National Pool of All residency positions set aside for imps to level the playing Field across Canada busing said. Opening up the cards is a significant movement for the system said busing. It will take us a few More years to get that pan Canadian approach in Burnett said Manitoba a decision to Lead on this Issue should make this province a destination for the Best imps resident in Canada. In addition it makes Manitoba More attractive for canadians studying Medicine abroad in countries such As Ireland and Australia who were classified As imps and could not get Access to Resi Dency positions in their Home country he added. ;