How Do We Address Canada’s Scarcity of Doctors?

Theresa Zukauskas and her husband Walter, who has Parkinson’s disease, are shown in Halifax on Sept. 22, 2017. After the couple learned they would lose their family doctor in early November, Theresa called 811 to get on the waiting list but no doctors were available. The Canadian Press/Michael Tutton

While health care is a dynamic service characterized by the continual introduction of new drugs and medical devices, physicians remain at the centre of health-care delivery. So it’s worth noting that Canada lags well behind almost all developed countries in the availability of physician services.

Canada ranks 29th out of 33 high-income countries for the number of practising physicians relative to the population. Unless physicians in Canada are much more productive than physicians in other high-income countries, the data suggest that Canada suffers from a relative scarcity of physician services.