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Report: More than half of Sask.'s doctors received degrees outside of Canada

Doctors' buy-in to MyHealthNS could hinge on compensation

Saskatchewan has more doctors who received their degrees outside of Canada than any other province or territory, according to new statistics released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

According to the report Physicians in Canada, 2015, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba had the largest proportions of internationally-trained physicians among Canada's provinces and territories.

In Saskatchewan, more than 52 per cent of the province's approximately 2,200 doctors received their degrees outside of Canada, the most out of all of the provinces and territories in Canada by far. The majority of doctors are being recruited from South Africa, India and Nigeria, according to CIHI.

It's a figure Saskatchewan's College of Physicians and Surgeons said has remained fairly steady over the past several years.

"Considering that a considerable number of the physicians in Saskatchewan have been here for a very long time, if they were international physicians in 2000 they would still be international physicians today," said Bryan Salte, associate registrar with the college. "It's not a surprise that about 52 per cent are internationally trained."

Salte said he expects Saskatchewan's reliance on international doctors to decrease in the coming years as he believes a larger number of Canadian graduates are electing to stay in the country.

About 36 per cent of Newfoundland and Labrador's doctors earned their degrees outside of the country along with about 34 per cent of Manitoba's doctors.

Saskatchewan also saw about a five per cent increase in the number of practicing doctors over 2014, with 196 doctors per 100,000 people, still below the national average of 228 per 100,000, according to CIHI. Prince Edward Island had the lowest number of doctors per 100,000, followed by Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Saskatchewan's doctors are also getting younger.

"We're looking at a somewhat younger physician base over the last eight years or so," Salte said. "We don't have quite as many physicians who are in the age group of 35 years of practise or more."

"We have somewhat more physicians who are in the age group of six years practise or fewer."