When politicians think they know more about medicine than doctors:
Last week, Colleges and Universities Minister Chris Bentley announced plans to train an extra 104 doctors at several universities, including the University of Ottawa, over the next few years at a cost of $20.8 million.Ironically, the government is now trying to address a doctor shortage that was deliberately created by governments in Ontario and across Canada just over a decade ago . . .
. . . But the politicians knew better, and proceeded with cutting medical school enrolments and discouraging foreign-trained medical students from practicing here.
As it turned out, one group of experts did get it right back then. The Association of Canadian Medical Colleges predicted that, given demographic patterns, reducing the number of medical students would lead to a doctor shortage. They said it would happen right about now when, as it turns out, one million people in Ontario alone can’t find a family doctor.
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{ 2 comments }
Weren’t medical school admissions in the US in the late ’80s and early ’90s cut?
Hell no they werent cut. US medical schools have been expanding for a long time.
the only “cut” in US medical schools happened circa 1900 when the Abraham Flexner report surfaced, showing that most of the medical schools were crappy and had subpar training.
Osteopathic med schools, in particular, have been spreading like wildfire. 10 new schools in the last 20 years, and another 4 or 5 in the planning stages.
Allopathic med schools have increased more slowly, about 5 new ones proposed since the 1970s. Florida alone is building 2 new medical schools.
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