Quebec concerned about vacancies in family medicine residencies
CTV
The popularity of family medicine continues to decline among Quebec students. According to data from the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS), 91 family medicine residency positions remain vacant after the first round of matching.
The popularity of family medicine continues to decline among Quebec students. According to data from the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS), 91 family medicine residency positions remain vacant after the first round of matching.
CaRMS is the pan-Canadian organization that assigns medical graduates a specialty for their residency.
This year's results also show that only six specialty residency positions remain vacant. In other words, over 90 per cent of all unfilled medical residency positions in the province are in family medicine.
"It doesn't surprise me, but it saddens me deeply. It's a great disappointment', said Quebec Physicians Federation (FMOQ) president Dr. Marc-André Amyot.
According to the FMOQ, over the past 12 years, nearly 600 family medicine training positions have not been filled, meaning that 600 doctors will not be available to provide services to Quebecers for the next 30 years.
"That's catastrophic," said Amyot.
It is expected that family medicine residency positions will be filled in the second round of twinning. Last year, for example, 26 positions were filled between the first and second rounds, reducing the number of vacancies from 99 to 73.
