Politicians Warned of Looming Lab Technician Shortage in Canada

With more than half of Canada’s lab technicians coming up for retirement within the next 10 years, politicians are being warned of a looming shortage.

Dr. Donald Low walks through the laboratory in Toronto’s Mount Sinai hospital, Feb. 19, 2008. With more than half of Canada’s lab technicians coming up for retirement within the next 10 years, politicians are being warned of a looming shortage. The Canadian Press/J.P. Moczulski

Over half of Canada’s medical lab technicians will be eligible to retire over the next five to ten years, creating a shortage that may negatively impact the medical system’s ability to provide advice for patients, according to members of the Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science.

Lab technicians perform a range of routine tests from urine to blood and are essential to the medical process, technicians with the society warned politicians during a press conference on Parliament Hill on April 28.

“Let’s say you are concerned about having cancer. Now they have to send the test out. A result they could have given you in five hours will now take five days. That’s the concern—it will take longer for you to get your result and longer for you to start your treatment,” said society president Tania Toffner in an interview.

It's an essential service.

— Christine Nielsen, Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science