'I was working nights in a call centre': Third Dalhousie-trained doctor says residency rules have to change

Another foreign-born Nova Scotia doctor has come forward to flag the strict residency rules he says are driving some willing young physicians away.

Another foreign-born Nova Scotia doctor has come forward to flag the strict residency rules he says are driving some willing young physicians away.

"They're just not doing enough," said Dr. Matthew Kumar on a short lunch break as he completes his medical residency at the hospital in Inverness, N.S.

Originally from Malaysia, he began his studies at the International Medical University before moving to Nova Scotia to complete them at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Like others, the roadblock came when it was time to find a residency in the province he would come to love: out of the question unless he was a citizen or a permanent resident.

"And I took up a job as a research aid with the surgical department at the QE II, and I was working nights at a call centre, just up until I could get my permanent residency status," said Kumar, saying it took about two years to complete the process.

This is the third physician CTV News has spoken with, all having taken the same career path and offering the same complaint.

"As far as I know, a lot of them are either turning sights to the United States, the U.K. or going back to their own home countries. So, you have Canadian medical graduates who would prefer to stay there, but are unable to," said Dr. Taha Khan, a resident physician in Boston, Mass., who spoke to CTV News last Tuesday.