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Montreal, April 16, 2008 – The four Québec universities that have faculties of medicine are pleased to note that, again this year, international medical graduates (IMGs) who wish to do their residency are favourably received in Québec.

The two rounds in the 2008-2009 residency admission process have now been completed. Sixty-eight graduates from outside Canada and the United States have been admitted as part of the regular quota. This is 14 more than last year. In all, 140 IMGs took part in all steps of the admission process this year, resulting in admission of 48.6% of the applicants, compared to 41.2% last year.

Québec compares well with other parts of Canada; a total of 353 IMGs were accepted in all of Canada out of a total of 1,299 who completed all steps in the admission process administered by CaRMS. In fact, if Québec’s results are subtracted, 24.6% of the IMG applicants (285 of 1159) were accepted in all the other Canadian provinces. The success rate for IMG applicants in Québec is therefore twice that of the rest of Canada, which shows to what extent the Québec faculties of medicine are open to accepting such candidates. Québec society can look forward to the contribution of these doctors.

Note that 9.6% of the new residents in the regular 2008-2009 quota in Québec will be IMGs, which is higher than the anticipated target in the government decree’s original projections that allocated 8.3% of the spaces to IMGs.

Since the early 2000s, IMG admissions have continued to rise, from 5 to 68 this year despite the challenging financial context in which the faculties operate and at a time when the numbers of Québec students accepted in first-year medicine are at an all-time high. “We cannot ignore the fact that Québec’s universities and medical faculties have to work miracles under the current circumstances”, noted Dr. Guy Breton, Chair of the CREPUQ Medical Affairs Committee and Executive Vice-Rector at the Université de Montréal. “Our resources are stretched to the limit and our hats are off to the men and women in all our medical training environments who, under difficult conditions, manage to continue training top-notch physicians. Others envy us.”

The universities with faculties of medicine congratulate the 68 accepted candidates whose records confirmed that they have the aptitude to undertake postdoctoral education. As has been the case for several years, a number of these new residents will soon be invited to an acclimatization program organized by the medical faculties to enable them to get their postdoctoral training off to a good start.

One hundred and sixty medical graduates from outside Canada and the United States are currently registered in residency programs. Nearly 200 professors have also completed their medical training abroad, and are making a major contribution to university medical education and research in Québec. “For Québec’s faculties of medicine, these people provide a very enriching presence as well as welcome support,” noted Dr. Richard Levin, Chair of the Conference of Deans of the Faculties of Medicine in Québec and Dean of the McGill University Faculty of Medicine.

Last year, there were 85 residency positions (of 724 positions available, or 11.7%) that were not filled after completion of the second round. This year, there are 73 (of 781 positions available, or 9.3%). The universities and the faculties of medicine are still concerned about the large number of vacancies, especially in family medicine, where there are 62 (compared to 65 at the same time last year). They will cooperate fully with the government and partners to continue to find ways to make family medicine in Québec more attractive for candidates for residency admission. “Our four universities, our four faculties of medicine, reiterate their firm desire to contribute as much as they can to the training of excellent physicians who may come to meet the expectations of the Québec public,” concluded Dr. Breton.

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