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Press Releases
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Latest Releases
Open Letter to Minister Bentley on Loan Interest Deferral -February 2007
Ontario Medical Students and Residents Need Patients, Not Debt, To Be Their First Priority The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) and the Professional Association of Internes and Residents of Ontario (PAIRO) are calling on the provincial government to alleviate the intense financial pressure of medical student debt. By deferring interest on student loans until after residency training is completed, Ontario will become a more attractive place to practise medicine. This action will put the province in line with other jurisdictions in Canada. “Residents are still trainees, not full-time practising physicians. Forcing them to start repaying loans during training puts tremendous pressure on our future doctors,” said Dr. David Bach, President of the OMA. “We need to ensure that tuition and debt do not become deterrents to attracting the best and brightest students to medical school.” This fall, over 900 medical school graduates will be entering Residency in Ontario. Residency marks the end of formal classroom education and signifies the beginning of apprenticeship-style training in family medicine or another specialty. Newfoundland, Quebec and Saskatchewan have already recognized the importance of deferring the interest on student loans. The Student Section of the OMA highlights the fact that postponing interest on student loans is being recognized for its value of attracting medical students to positions for which they are best suited, but not necessarily best compensated, by removing the pressure to repay student loans immediately. “As a result of these excessively high debt loads, residents have a great deal of difficulty just making ends meet. It is an unnecessary burden during a crucial time in their medical training,” said Dr. Kris Lehnhardt, President of PAIRO. “Deferring interest repayment until after residency will mean that residents can concentrate their efforts on meaningful pursuits, such as how best to treat their patients.” For more information please contact OMA Media Relations at (416) 340-2862 or toll-free at 1-800-268-7215 ext. 2862. Province urged to defer debts faced by medical students Canadian Press Newswire Tuesday, September 5, 2006 The Ontario government is being urged to allow medical students to put off paying their student loans until their residency training is complete. The Ontario Medical Association and the Professional Association of Internes and Residents of Ontario say doing so will make Ontario a more attractive place to practice medicine and will put the province on par with other jurisdictions in Canada. OMA president Dr. David Bach says residents are trainees, not full-time physicians, and forcing them to start repaying loans during training puts tremendous pressure on them. Bach says Ontario needs to ensure that tuition and debt do not deter the best and brightest students from attending medical school. This fall, over 900 medical school graduates will enter residency in Ontario, the beginning of apprenticeship-style training in family medicine or another specialty.
Medical residents burdened by debt (Orillia Packet) Orillia Packet And Times Friday, September 8, 2006 Nothing could discourage Erika Catford from becoming a doctor. Not the nine years of school. Not even the $100,000 debt most medical students find themselves strapped with for years after graduation. "You get used to it," said the 26-year-old resident at Soldiers' Memorial Hospital. "You think about going to the movies or buying a new pair of shoes, and you just add it to the tab. "What are you supposed to do? You can't stop school. It's my passion, and I'm not going to drop out." Since residents are considered students, even though they are paid employees, the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) and the Professional Association of Interns and Residents of Ontario is urging the government to allow medical students to put off repaying their student loans until their residency training is complete. The average student debt from medical school has reached more than $100,000, according to the OMA. A recent survey of Ontario medical residents reported more than 60 per cent of them described their financial situation as extremely stressful. About 900 new residents will begin their training in Ontario hospitals this fall. Graduating medical students must work as residents for two to seven years before becoming full-fledged physicians. First-year residents in Ontario earn approximately $40,000. The cost to service the $100,000 debt is about $14,000 per year, which works out to half of their take-home pay, according to the OMA. The issue is not whether they will be able to pay it off, Catford said. "We will all get jobs," she noted. However, the debt may be discouraging students who want to become physicians, but find the financial strain too stressful. Catford added another downfall is medical students, eager to pay off their debt, tend to enter what they believe are high-paying specialties instead of becoming much-needed family practitioners. OMA president Dr. David Bach said Ontario needs to ensure tuition and debt do not deter the best and brightest students from attending medical school. Residents are trainees, not full-time physicians, and forcing them to start repaying loans during training puts tremendous pressure on them, he said. Newfoundland, Quebec and Saskatchewan have already recognized the importance of deferring the interest on student loans. Changes may not be implemented in time for Catford to benefit, but she said it's a good idea for the future of her profession.
In its latest analysis of Canada's doctors' shortage, the Fraser Institute is right about one thing -- much of the blame for the fact that more than one million Ontarians can't find a family physician rests with provincial governments which, in the 1990s, restricted medical school admissions in a bid to drive down health-care costs. However, the think-tank's call to stop the recruitment of foreign-trained doctors to help fill the gap would only exacerbate the problem. A report by Nadeem Esmail, the institute's director of health system performance studies, argues that provincial governments should instead increase the number of qualified Canadian students. "It is irresponsible for a wealthy, developed nation with a highly educated population to rely on international medical graduates to deliver health care to the population," he said. Esmail also called for provincial governments to completely deregulate tuition, allowing medical schools and teaching hospitals to determine their own admission levels. First of all, deregulating tuition could make fees faced by students even more prohibitive. The Ontario Medical Students Association has complained that medical school tuition has reached astronomical levels, ranging from $14,000 to $17,000 per year. Medical students are graduating with upwards of $100,000 in debt, and many may be forgoing medical education altogether due to the high costs, it warned. As well, it costs less to upgrade the training and credentials of foreign-trained physicians than it would be train a doctor from scratch. A study by the University of Calgary estimates it costs Alberta taxpayers about $300,000 to put one student through three years of medical school. The Ontario Medical Association states that the province needs at least 2,100 more physicians. The OMA also warned the number of physicians working in specialties with long waiting lists -- such as diagnostic services, oncology, orthopedics and ophthalmology -- is also declining. Meanwhile, doctors, like the general population, are aging. A recent study found 19 per cent of practising MDs -- about 4,100 Ontario doctors -- are over age 60, and 11 per cent -- or 2,300 doctors-- are over age 65. Retirement alone will have a significant impact on physician supply over the next five years, while many other older doctors will be scaling back their practices. In underserviced areas like Essex County, the need for doctors and other specialists is urgent. Although more than 100 new physicians began working in Essex County over the past three years, the influx still did not match the need for doctors. The region's physician recruitment office estimated the area is still short about 200 doctors. The situation will only get worse if the province makes it more difficult for foreign-trained doctors to upgrade their credentials. Joan Atlin, executive director of the Association of International Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, said Ontario has between 2,000 and 4,000 immigrant doctors looking for a practice. Many of these physicians arrive in Canada with impressive resumes. Canadian patients could certainly benefit from foreign-trained doctors who have been heads of emergency departments servicing large populations, anesthetists and obstetricians who have been in practice for several years. As Atlin noted, "Doctors are coming with thousands of dollars of training and experience in their pockets. They have a right to be assessed, and if found to be qualified, they should be allowed to practise their profession." Governments, which caused the doctor shortage with their misguided policies, have a duty to put in place measures designed to ease, not obstruct, the much-needed contribution of foreign-trained physicians. |
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