McMaster And PEI Start New Program For Foreign-Trained Doctors

A new training program will make it easier for international doctors to work in Canada. It’s called the PEI-McMaster Collaborative Hospitalist Fellowship. This program gives foreign-trained doctors a chance to complete a one-year internal medicine training.

Once they finish the program, doctors can apply for a license to work in Prince Edward Island (PEI). They must agree to work in PEI for at least one year after completing the training.

Who Can Apply

To qualify, doctors must be either Canadian citizens or permanent residents. They also need to meet specific rules set by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of PEI. Preference will go to those eligible to take the Royal College internal medicine exam through the Practice Eligibility Route.

Program Details

This training program is a joint effort between PEI’s government and a university in Ontario. The goal is to bring more doctors into the Canadian healthcare system and support PEI’s medical workforce.

Health PEI, the province’s health authority, will choose the fellows and cover their training costs. Most of the training—12 out of 13 blocks—will take place in Ontario. Only one training block will happen in PEI.

A Success Story

The program follows the example of Dr. Ali Abdullah. He is an internationally-trained internal medicine doctor who completed a similar fellowship and started working in PEI in 2024.

Why It Matters

It is often hard for international medical graduates (IMGs) to become licensed in Canada. Usually, doctors must complete a residency to qualify for a license. But most residency spots are reserved for graduates of Canadian medical schools. Only about 10% of these spots go to IMGs.

Because of this, many skilled international doctors face delays or cannot practice in Canada at all. This new program helps remove that barrier and opens a new route to licensing.

Supporting Canada’s Healthcare System

This program is part of a larger national effort to bring more healthcare workers into Canada. In the past few years, the Canadian government has made several changes to help foreign-trained healthcare workers.

These changes include:

• Fast-tracking permanent residency for healthcare professionals.
  
• Allowing physicians to count self-employment as work experience.
  
• Adjusting provincial immigration programs to make it easier for doctors to qualify.
  
• Offering special immigration streams for healthcare workers in provinces like BC, PEI, and Saskatchewan.
  

With more programs like this fellowship, Canada hopes to meet the rising demand for doctors and improve healthcare services across the country.