Pandemic showed need for national physician licence, doctors argue

Dr. Monika Dutt was just adjusting to her new role as the medical officer of health for the central and western parts of Newfoundland and Labrador when COVID-19 reached the province.

As the regions turned to her for guidance, she faced an added stress: applying for her licence to practice there.

Dutt, a family doctor in Nova Scotia, was hired in February 2020 and issued a short-term licence that allowed her to work for three months in Newfoundland and Labrador. She was then told she would have to apply for a full licence in order to stay on.

"There was actually a point at which it was questionable whether the process would be finished before my short-term licence was done, and whether there would be no medical officer of health for half the province for that period of time," she said.

"Which in some ways to me, doesn't make sense. If I was qualified to work for the first three months, what is the difference now?"

While Dutt did get her licence in time, she said her experience is just one in a long list of reasons why Canada needs a national licence for doctors, instead of relying on separate regimes for each province and territory.

It's something that a chorus of physicians across the country have been wanting for years.

Some experts say national licenses could speed up redeployment of doctors and nurses to the areas where they're needed most. And there is a doctor shortage across Canada. In Newfoundland and Labrador, roughly 98,000 people are without a family doctor, according to the province's medical association. Some New Brunswickers have been told it's a three-to-four year wait to get a doctor.

But regulatory bodies say the issue is far more complicated than it seems at first glance, and would require legislative change to make it work.

Currently, physicians must apply to the regulatory body in each province or territory where they want to work, often spending months gathering paperwork and thousands of dollars on fees.

Regulatory bodies ask for everything from training certificates to criminal record checks. They also look for references from former instructors or colleagues, while others want to see immunization records.

Dutt thinks all of that information is important, but argues if a physician has been vetted in one province, they shouldn't have to do the full process again in another. She currently pays thousands of dollars to renew her licences in four jurisdictions every year, because she said it's easier than reapplying from scratch.

"We should have the same standards for any physician working anywhere in the country."

The issue is also being championed in Neils Harbour, a village in Cape Breton, N.S., that has spent years trying to recruit new doctors.