Page 1 of 1: ANOTHER EYE OPENER TO ALL ASPIRANTS

khantariq · Credits: 1871 My Scrapbook

" I feel strongly about redundancy of IMG OSCE AND conveying plight of International Medical Graduates in the context of what has happened to me in this last one year. Recently there had been much noise about International skilled workers’ credentials not being recognised and majority of them forced to work in jobs requiring skills very much less than what they are qualified for. There was particular uproar over shortage of Doctors and recommendations by various bodies to overcome this by utilisation of vast pool of ‘trainable’ International Medical Graduates who are literally rotting! The tumult seems to have died down.
I am an International Medical Graduate, who came to this country in Mar, 2006 as landed skilled immigrant full of confidence to make a mark in Medical field. My confidence has been completely marred by the disenchantment which has set in with in one year of focussed and intense attempt to get in the system and fulfilling all the requirements adequately! Before making any claim let me prove my point. Last 6 years before being here I was in Ministry of Health in Oman working as a General Duty Medical Officer [which proves my recency of experience adequately]. With in last few years, I successfully passed all the exams required to enter postgraduate training in Ontario. Results:
TOEFL iBT------------------- 111/12 [Required standard—94]
MCC Canada .previouspapers -----------470 [pass marks—303]
MCC Qualifying Exam-1--- -----498 [pass marks—390]
IMG CLINICAL -----------------[[six hundred and ninety three]] [Average –500] My score is two standard deviation above mean and this exam allegedly tests my clinical knowledge, diagnostic/ examination capability and patient communicability in Canadian context!

Following this, I was invited for interview by CaRMS in London. The interview as it turned out apparently added nothing to what had already been assessed by Clinical examination. This sham interview was merely for 15 minutes. Subsequently, it was decided that I am not fit to be trained in Family Medicine in Canadian system. And all this after so much of brouhaha over shortage of Doctors in System! Nobody even had the decency to inform me of my deficiencies which make me incapable to be trained! Some of the frivolous reasons I can think of are—Lack of Canadian reference [Which most of the IMGs obtain by just observing Canadian Doctors working!] Another reason I can think of is my attire or physical appearance was not up to the mark for the interviewer or something in my ethnic or cultural upbringing was offending! If the interview or Canadian references are so important then why have the farce of conducting these Clinical Examinations? Here, I am not naming any candidate but know of few for certain who do not match me in any of the above mentioned examinations and still are selected as Resident for training.. Some of them do not even have either recency of experience or even experience in General Practice! After having scored above average in all examinations of MCC and among top 5% in clinical Exam of IMG Ontario my dreams have come crashing down with bleak prospects ahead because my best opportunity is gone and more time I spent in this place more I will be out of practice looking for alternative means of living and I will certainly be in grave yard spin after that like my compatriots in this profession.
I am particularly disappointed on special emphasis given almost in stereotypical and thoughtless manner to Canadian reference letters. Astonishing thing is that it overshadows the clinical experience you get as a doctor in other country. I have reference letters from Physicians of renowned Ministry of Health, Oman but they do not carry as much weightage!!! What logic??? Anybody can explain that??? It is ridiculous because clinical experience means that you are involved with patient care. To get this Canadian ref letter you have to forgo the opportunity to earn for sustenance when you are preparing for long list of examinations that you have to go through. What I lack is this Canadian ref letter. Another deficiency which might have been noticed could be my performance in Interview, taken for 15 minutes and I am certain that nobody can help being subjective in this 15 to 20 minutes encounter. How can this be more standardized than Clinical exam taken by IMGO which has so many components to be tested in consistent manner and it takes extensive 3 hours to finish. Most importantly this cl exam tests the fitness of a person as a professional which can never be tested by frivolous 20 minutes interview. By all means take interview but do not overlook candidates performance in cl exam altogether and that is what has been done in my case! Also, I strongly feel that if the policy makers for IMGs want to maintain status quo then government must completely stop immigration of doctors in skilled category because I feel that it is absolutely unethical to bring them here just to keep the population balance and make them work in positions they are working and reach the point of no return after burning all the bridges. Doesn’t anyone in position think that it is something which is shameful and criminal? More I think about what I have gone through in last one year and outcome of it, more I am filled with rage. I fail to understand the quiet over the issue by all the IMGs who are suffering beyond any doubt. Only explanation I think of can be learned helplessness which has set in and before I go into that mode I would like to convey it to the responsible people or make my best effort to leave this place with determination never to look back on it.

Reaching this juncture, I am left with few choices--- Forget about my profession and be in some ignominious blue-collar job to look after my family with two school going children, which I am sure will find it difficult to explain to their peer groups without hanging their heads in shame [Here, I am by no means demeaning the blue collar job. My point is what I will be doing and what I am capable of] or leave this country for good and start rebuilding all lost savings in this place for children’s future somewhere else and forget this shoddy experience altogether.'
Tariq

		Sign In New User? Sign Up Sign in to access your control panel and messenger!
				TechZone \| SpiderNevi \| HowTo? \| Scrapbook!