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Montreal, April 11, 2008 – The four Quebec universities with a faculty of medicine would like to call attention to the fact that more and more international medical graduates are being admitted to residency programs.

The residency admissions process for 2008-2009 is still underway. During the first iteration of the process, 64 international medical graduates (IMGs) were admitted in the regular quota, which is 22 more than last year at the same stage in the process. This number will in all likelihood increase to a certain extent on April 15, the date on which the residency admissions process comes to an end.

In all, 140 IMGs participated in the process this year with a resulting IMG admission rate of 46% at this point in time, compared to 31% last year at the same time.

Beginning around the year 2000, IMG admissions have increased steadily, from 5 to at least 64 this year. Furthermore, the faculties of medicine continue to deal with a context of excessively limited resources and are also under pressure to increase undergraduate admissions.

The universities with a faculty of medicine are continuing their efforts to facilitate the integration of foreign-trained physicians into the Quebec medical system. In particular, they are taking part in a government committee mandated to propose concrete measures to improve this integration. However, they wish to remind all the parties involved that they cannot accept that access to university programs be dictated by any requirements other than the level of excellence of the candidates’ portfolio as evaluated by the university authorities that are mandated to accept or refuse applications.

Currently, 160 international medical graduates are enrolled in residency programs, and some 200 professors who received their medical training abroad also contribute significantly to teaching and university medical research in Quebec.

The number of residency positions that remained unfilled following the first iteration last year was 118 (out of 724 positions offered, i.e. 16.3%). This year, the number stands at 102 (out of 781 positions offered, i.e. 13.1%). The universities and the faculties of medicine are concerned by the number of positions that have remained vacant, and they most certainly would like to be able to admit more candidates to residency programs. However, they consider that it is incumbent upon them to admit only those candidates to their programs that they deem likely to successfully complete their studies.

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Information:
Michel Giguère
Senior Research Officer
514 288-8524 (ext. 208)