New Brunswick employing 10 new family doctors through international program

Ten new physicians are working in New Brunswick through a program that helps doctors from other countries get their licence in Canada.

Ten family doctors are joining New Brunswick’s health-care system after finishing a licensing program that allows internationally-trained physicians to work in the province.

The doctors are the first group to complete the Practice Ready Assessment New Brunswick Program. They will be deployed to Moncton, Campbellton, Bathurst, Miramichi and Woodstock regions by the Horizon and Vitalité health networks and provide family medicine for approximately 10,000 to 15,000 New Brunswickers, said a Wednesday news release.

Dr. Mathias Forgo, a general practitioner from Burkina Faso, was among the four doctors from the program’s inaugural candidates who were at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre for the announcement. He’ll soon be working for Vitalité Health Network in the Restigouche region.

“I am excited to begin this next chapter of my life where I can practice medicine and make New Brunswick my home,” said Forgo.

Iranian doctor Arshia Haqani is already seeing patients in Moncton.

“This is a place that people are in need the most, for physicians,” Haqani said. “So I thought to myself, instead of being in Ontario or other places, I can have more effect on people in New Brunswick.”

A second Iranian doctor - Shiva Parsa, who will be practicing in Bathurst – said she came to a bilingual province so her children could learn French.

“While we were building our new life here an essential part of my identity, my passion for medicine was missing,” Parsa said. “I knew I had the knowledge, experience and dedication to continue practicing. But I needed the right opportunity to do so.”

Premier Susan Holt said she was grateful to have the much-needed doctors, who finished clinical assessments this winter.

“They will be on the front lines, providing care to the thousands of New Brunswickers who we know have gone far too long without it,” Holt said.

Health Minister John Dornan said the province looks forward to having more licensed physicians working in New Brunswick.

“This program is helping to address New Brunswick family physician recruitment needs by tapping into a pool of international medical graduates living and legally able to work in our province,” said Dornan.

The program is a collaboration between the Department of Health and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick. Participants receive a three-year return-of-service agreement when they complete the 12-week field assessment under a New Brunswick physician’s supervision.

Wael Zohdy from Egypt said the program is competitive.

“I think 200 applicants applied for New Brunswick and they chose only 10,” said Zohdy. He will have patients in Campbellton. Most of the available placements are in rural areas.

A second cohort of doctors begins training this fall, said the release.

Dr. Laurie Potter is the registrar and CEO of the college. She said the physician’s assessment “confirms their competence of medical practitioners.”

“We’re pleased that, through the Practice Ready Assessment New Brunswick program, thousands more New Brunswickers will have access to a primary care provider,” Potter said.

Dornon said the communities and the provinces will try keep the new physicians beyond their contractual commitments.

“The communities are very heavily involved, in fact they’re engaging with us and [the Department of] Health to be part of that welcoming team,” said Dornan.

The Department of Health funded the program, which was developed in collaboration with provincial and national partners. The Working Together agreement between the provincial and federal governments provided more than $313 million “to improve New Brunswick’s health-care system.”

The Practice Ready Assessment New Brunswick Program is the only bilingual program of its kind in Canada, allowing candidates to be assessed in either official language.

“As a francophone, I greatly appreciated that the Practice Ready Assessment New Brunswick program provided a pathway for me to become a licensed physician in the province and was able to accommodate my assessment and examinations in my preferred language,” Forgo said.

About one-third of licensed physicians in New Brunswick hold a medical degree from outside the country, said the release.

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.