$75 million boost to Canada's health care system

In an effort to improve and strengthen their health care system Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh today announced a $75 million federal initiative that is expected to assist more than 2,000 internationally educated health care professionals to put their skills to work in Canada.

The $75 million, included in Budget 2005, will be provided over five years and it is estimated the funding will assist in the assessment and integration into the workforce of up to 1,000 physicians, 800 nurses and 500 other regulated health care professionals.

Dosanjh says that the whole country benefits when immigrants and internationally educated Canadians are able to make full use of their knowledge and experience, and says the initiative will strengthen the health system by helping to increase the supply of health care professionals, which will improve access to quality health care and reduce wait times.

This initiative is a key objective of the Ten-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care, which all First Ministers signed in September 2004. The Government of Canada is supporting the training and hiring of more health care professionals through the $5.5-billion Wait Times Reduction Fund. In addition, the Pan-Canadian Health Human Resource Strategy provides $20 million per year to improve health care workforce planning, promote the use of interdisciplinary health care teams and increase recruitment and retention of needed health care professionals.

The $75 million is part of a wider Internationally Trained Workers Initiative, involving 14 federal departments and agencies.

The move will fulfil the Government of Canada's commitment last September to accelerate and expand the assessment and integration of internationally educated health care professionals, and will complement a series of other measures being taken in collaboration with provinces and territories and the health care community to provide cities and rural areas across this country with the health care workers they need.

Minister Dosanjh says the Initiative will improve the integration of immigrants and internationally trained Canadians into the labour force so they can contribute their full potential to Canada and share in its prosperity.