Lack of interest in Alberta? Medical residency positions going unfilled

There is a growing number of unfilled medical residency positions in Calgary and Edmonton, and some in the sector blame the provincial government's reputation.

The Alberta Medical Association (AMA) is sounding the alarm over a growing number of unfilled medical residency positions in the province.

Every year, Canadian medical students rank their location preferences and are matched with residency programs.

It’s a time for future health professionals to get experience in their field and work in a place the large majority of them end up staying in.

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This year, there are 31 positions in Alberta that are still open after a round of applications.

The AMA president points to problems at both of Alberta’s medical schools, but says the vacancies are more problematic at the University of Calgary.

There, 27 of the 104 available spots in family medicine are empty after a round of recruitment.

“We are quite disappointed to see a lack of interest in family medicine in Alberta, at least in the urban centres,” Shelley Duggan said.

“It’s disappointing as we already struggle (with) retention and recruitment.”

The other provincial vacancies are in medical genetics and genomics, medical microbiology and neuropathology.

The Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) will complete its second of two rounds of matching on April 17.

While typically far less fruitful, Duggan hopes that round brings big gains for the University of Calgary and for Edmonton’s University of Alberta.

Reasons why?

There are an extra 16 seats available in Calgary this year, which could account for some of the slow recruitment, but that doesn’t account for all of the vacancies.

Duggan believes the UCP Government is scaring off potential recruits.

In a letter to AMA members, the president cited a recent surveys from students at both schools that showed uncertainty around living and working in the province.

Duggan says many point to Alberta’s “unstable state of health care and medicine.”

She believes the problems started five years ago when the province terminated its agreement with the AMA.

“When the contract was ripped up in 2020 — it only takes a few seconds to do that, but it takes years and years to regain trust,” Duggan said.

“We certainly still lack that.”

Despite a new payment model being recently implemented, she says the province still has a long way to go before it can convince health workers to seek out Alberta.

“We have a government that paid $2 million for a pretty questionable Covid report,” Duggan said.

“And there have been signs of interference within the medical profession in terms of dictating what can and can’t be done for gender-affirming care, how best to treat people who are suffering from substance-use disorder, concerns about whether we will continue to have self regulation with the college.”

“I think all of those things played into where students are choosing to go.”

Defending the system

CTV News was told Health Minister Adriana Lagrange was unavailable for an interview on this story on Wednesday, but her press secretary did send a lengthy email about media bias in how the CaRMS numbers are being framed.

“The concern about unfilled seats in the CaRMS process is exaggerated and distorted,” Jessi Rampton wrote.

“This year, 413 of the possible 449 seats were filled in the first round of the matching process, an improvement from both 2022 and 2023.”

Calgary ultimately had four unfilled spots in 2022 and seven in 2023.

“Any implication that Alberta has unique challenges in filling family medicine residency spots is false,” Rampton added.