Author Archives: Rosemary

1. Frequently Asked Questions:

   February 28, 2014 4:51 am Comments Off on Frequently Asked Questions:

   Listed below are questions frequently asked about SOCASMA.  Read and learn about what we do, why we do it and how we work.  If you have any additional questions, please send us an email so we can answer your questions and then post them here. (more…)

2. The Ministry of Advanced Education talks the talk but does not walk the walk

   February 18, 2014 1:11 am Comments Off on The Ministry of Advanced Education talks the talk but does not walk the walk

   Objective 2.2 of the 2013-2015 Service Plan of the Ministry of Advanced Education is to develop a highly internationalized education system.  The plan requires that BC’s International Education Strategy:

   • “expand opportunities for BC students to participate in study and work abroad experiences to gain knowledge and build relationships that will enable them to be successful in an increasingly global society”.
   •  “encourage all educational institutions in BC to develop a stronger international outlook within BC’s educational system.”
   • “The province is also becoming more culturally diverse. We need to expand our international focus in B.C. to remain competitive in an increasingly globalized world. This will lead to greater understanding and tolerance, enriching personal connections between British Columbians and other people around the world. It will also help create and maintain key international pathways for commerce, research and innovation.” (page 9 of Service Plan).

   But when British Columbians go to study medicine internationally they are exiled to second class citizen status, unable to access 61 out of 65 medical disciplines unless there are crumbs leftover after Canadian and American medical school graduates have their pick.  To add insult to injury they are called second class medical graduates, even if they studied at medical schools rated internationally above any Canadian medical school.

3. What does a two class system for competition among Canadians look like?

   12:50 am Comments Off on What does a two class system for competition among Canadians look like?

   What a Two Class System Looks Like

   2013 BC Residency Competition Streams

   A.  The First Class Stream for Canadians who are CMGs (Canadian and American Medical School Graduates):

   1. 274 residency positions :
      1. 107 family medicine residencies
      2. 167 specialty positions (all 64 specialty disciplines available for competition)
   2.  256 UBC graduates
   3. Competition as of right to CMGs with no conditions or obligations attached.
   4. No return of service obligations.  This is true even of those medical school applicants who entered UBC medical school with low MCAT scores and GPAs as low as 70% because UBC considered them good candidates for rural practice.

   5.  CSAs and other IMGs are prohibited from competing against CMGs in the first round to ensure every CMG is protected and preferred over other Canadians who chose to study medicine overseas.

   6.  CSAs can only compete for the crumbs leftover, after CMGs have completed their first round of competition in this stream.

    

   B.   The Second Class Stream for Canadians who are CSAs or other IMGs (International Medical Graduates):

   1.  34 residency positions:
      1. 28 family medicine residencies
      2. 6 specialty positions  (only 3 out of 64 recognized specialty disciplines available:  psychiatry, internal medicine, pediatrics)
   2. Approximately 350 applicants in 2013;
   3. Ability to compete in this stream is tied to conditions.
   4. Ability to compete is contingent on agreeing to enter into an indenture agreement whereby one must work where (s)he is told for 2-3 years after becoming fully licensed.
   5. This stream was designed as an affirmative action stream to allow immigrant physicians with language and cultural barriers, an opportunity to become qualified as medical doctors, therefore discreet barriers were put in place to exclude CSAs from competition.
   6. As a result few CSAs are admitted into residency jobs through the IMG streams.  Demands for the precise number have been denied by UBC on the premise that this is not a statistic that UBC is interested in processing.