Staff from Nova Scotia’s Office of Immigration are in the UK this week, reconnecting with doctors they met during last autumn’s job fair.
Staff are offering one-on-one meetings with those doctors to talk about the new Physician Stream which launched last month. It is part of the office’s ongoing work to recruit new doctors to the province.
“Nova Scotia is an attractive immigration option to doctors in the United Kingdom,” said Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration. “When we meet with them, they tell us they are very interested in the attributes Nova Scotia has to offer.
“We are making it a priority to actively market our province to highly qualified doctors in the U.K. and Ireland who are considering immigrating to Canada. This includes the development of a new brand which we will launch soon.”
The immigration officials will meet with doctors on 16th and 17th March and will also hold a broader information session for all skilled workers who are interested in making Nova Scotia their home.
This builds on the successful launch of the new immigration stream in February which has seen three doctors approved in less than a month.
The Physician Stream will aim to help attract more international doctors and specialists to the province by making the immigration process easier and faster for internationally trained doctors who have already received approved job offers from the Nova Scotia Health Authority or the IWK Health Centre.
A family doctor who currently lives in Virginia, was the first to be processed through the new stream and plans to start practising in Cape Breton this spring. Two other family doctors from Ireland and England have also been approved and plan to start work in Halifax this spring.
“We appreciate this support for physician recruitment,” said Dr Lynne Harrigan, vice-president of Medicine and Integrated Health, Nova Scotia Health Authority. “Our Provincial Recruitment Advisory Committee has been bringing more stakeholders to this work and helping us meet our aggressive targets to increase doctors in the province.”
The Nova Scotia Office of Immigration and the Nova Scotia Health Authority will continue to work together to recruit doctors in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2018. The Office of Immigration is returning to the United Kingdom in April to attend another physician recruitment mission.
Article published 14th March 2018