The Quebec government is going to make it easier for foreign trained doctors to practice medicine in this province.
Health Minister Yves Bolduc said Friday that he has accepted all the recommendations in a report that looked into the problem of getting those physicians into the workplace.
Quebec will reserve 65 positions for doctors who have been trained in medical schools outside of North America.
The doctors, some of whom drive taxis here in Montreal, have complained for years that they have had difficulty getting into residency programs.
Over the last six years, studies have shown that the number of foreign trained doctors getting into residency programs has been on a steady decline from a high of 91 per cent six years ago to just 36 per cent last year.
Bolduc said a committee will be set up to evaluate the prospective doctors' credentials, and candidates will be informed quickly.
"If they can practice, we're going to give them the permission to practice," the minister told CTV's Derek Conlon.
"If they have some things to correct or to improve at this moment we can offer stages of evaluation."
Not everyone wins
Not all doctors who apply to be licensed in Quebec will be successful given that some foreign medical schools are not recognized by the World Health Organization.
But the health minister says that even unsuccessful candidates will have access to retraining so that they can find other jobs in the health care system.
