Canada’s move to ‘poach’ nurses from abroad fuels fears of nurse shortages in developing countries

With Canada and other wealthy nations scrambling to hire nurses from abroad, fears are growing that the exodus of health workers from developing countries will bring the expanded health care system closer to crisis. increase.

The federal government and states are spending millions of dollars trying to attract foreign-trained nurses to Canada. These include overseas employment campaigns, preferred immigration routes, and financial subsidies for individual nurses.

However, Canada faces stiff competition from Europe, the United States and other countries that have launched aggressive recruitment campaigns touting high wages and immigration opportunities. You can get a visa.The Australian state of Victoria offers a “relocation package” for foreign nurses, worth $11,670 Cdn.

Howard Catton, CEO of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), said, “Since the beginning of the year, there has been a significant increase in the recruitment of international nurses. Income countries were overwhelmingly encouraged, naming Canada as one of those countries.

“[They’re] Underinvested in the training of their own nurses, and in many cases their nurses are exhausted and burnt out, they are rushing to solve the nursing shortage quickly. ”

Countries worry about losing professional nurses

Early in the pandemic, a joint ICN-World Health Organization (WHO) report found that wealthy nations raided developing countries’ nursing workforces to compensate for their failure to train and retain needed medical staff. I warned you.

At the time, there were about 83 nurses per 10,000 people in the Americas, compared with less than 9 nurses per 10,000 people in Africa, according to the report.

Two-and-a-half years and a global pandemic later, Catton said the situation in low-income countries struggling to retain health workers only got worse as wealthier countries stepped up their recruitment efforts. says.

These countries are very concerned about losing experienced nurses with specialized skills, such as intensive care nurses and oncology nurses, he told CBC News in an interview from Geneva. Told.

“We might just lose one or two specialist nurses, but that could mean the service no longer exists.”

Canada promotes foreign employment

In Canada, internationally educated healthcare professionals make up approximately 9% of nurses and 26% of doctors. In her past year, states have rolled out a patchwork of incentives intended to recruit more, including targeted immigration flows.

Newfoundland and Labrador have set up recruitment desks in India, Saskatchewan will host a healthcare job fair in the Philippines later this month, and British Columbia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Manitoba will all be hiring international nurses and international nurses. offers thousands of dollars to cover licenses for Other expenses such as childcare, transportation and living expenses.

This kind of incentive is difficult for nurses in developing countries to refuse.

“We are our [nursing] Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, President of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association said:

Ghana has about 44,000 nurses to care for a population of 31 million, just above the African average. And low wages, she said, meant “living hand-to-hand”.

“It’s much better to travel and work abroad than to stay here,” said Ofoli Ampofo, who lives in Canada, where he receives a regular salary and has the opportunity to work overtime. I pointed out that it might be better.

Bilateral trade is a more ethical approach

But Ohori Ampofo wants wealthy countries like Canada to take a more ethical approach to overseas hiring.

Instead of targeting individual nurses through recruitment agencies that don’t serve them, governments should strike bilateral agreements with the nurses’ countries of origin, she says — an approach the WHO also supports. is.

Ghana recently began sending nurses to Barbados under a bilateral agreement that sent about 240 nurses to the island for a two-year term.

She said such contracts make it safer for nurses to leave their home countries because salaries and other terms of employment are clearly indicated before they return.

Both Ofori-Ampofo and Catton say wealthy countries should also do more to give back to adopting countries.

“I hear a lot [recruiting] So is the country saying, “Look, we want to share knowledge. As a result of migration, there will be opportunities for people to learn and share.” It’s a condition of what we’re going to do,” Catton said.

For example, he suggested that countries like Canada could provide funding to build nursing schools or help pay to educate the nursing workforce in developing countries.

Canada’s federal government does not have bilateral agreements with other countries for the international recruitment of health workers because the provinces and territories were responsible for their work, Health Canada said.

The agency noted that the federal government is funding educational programs for health care workers in developing countries. This includes a pediatric nursing program in Ghana led by SickKids hospital in Toronto.

“complete waste”

Experts believe there is another major flaw in Canada’s international recruitment. Thousands of foreign medical workers who come here end up not working in their profession.

Some migrate only to discover that their qualifications or language proficiency do not meet Canada’s requirements; In some cases, it may take years.

“We’re poaching people, and we’re doing it very badly,” said Professor Arthur Sweetman, chairman of the Ontario Research Commission for Health Human Resources at McMaster University in Hamilton.

Sweetman says private recruitment agencies are part of the problem. Because they bring workers to Canada without ensuring they have the right skills to work in the medical field.

“This is the worst of both worlds. We don’t benefit, the country of origin doesn’t benefit. No one benefits. It’s a total waste.”

This year’s federal budget includes funds to ensure that thousands of internationally educated health care workers are recognized for their foreign qualifications and find jobs in the health sector each year. I was.

room for better adjustment

While the federal government and some states have announced new measures to expedite the licensing and registration of internationally trained nurses, Sweetman said various levels of government are ramping up recruitment efforts. It says it needs to be adjusted.

“One of the problems is [immigration] Selection is done by the federal government, and employment in the health care sector is almost always done by state governments. ”

In a statement, Health Canada welcomed an “open dialogue” with various levels of government, health workers and others on how to address health worker shortages and ensure ethical international recruitment. It says it will.

The agency said it encouraged efforts in line with the WHO’s code of conduct on international recruitment, which urges countries not to actively recruit from a “red list” of the world’s most understaffed countries, including Ghana.

However, the UK alone has employed thousands of workers from countries on the Red List in recent years.

A WHO spokesperson told CBC News that an expert advisory group is now considering whether something can be done to protect developing countries from unethical recruitment practices, with details to be announced by the end of January. He said he planned to