Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser and Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos announced that the Canadian federal government seeks to utilize Canadian immigration programs to bring in more healthcare workers, especially as the demand is increasing day by day for this category of workers to address the significant shortage faced by the healthcare sector in a number of Canadian provinces.

The two ministers revealed a “Fast Entry” portal for healthcare workers, indicating that a notification will be sent to 500 foreigners working in the healthcare sector, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, physiotherapists, and optometrists, inviting them to apply for permanent residency in Canada, while invitations will be sent to another 1,500 next week, according to Canadian media reports.

The Canadian Minister of Health explained that this measure will facilitate, expedite, and simplify permanent residency applications, as well as help improve efforts to recruit healthcare workers by bringing more qualified healthcare professionals to Canada.

According to research conducted by the Angus Reid Institute, specializing in opinion polls and surveys, the situation is difficult, especially since about six million Canadians do not have a family doctor, in addition to the significant shortage of specialized doctors.

According to federal data, Canada is expected to need more than 44,000 doctors by 2028, including more than 30,000 family doctors and general practitioners.

It is worth noting that Canada received about 21,000 health workers between 2017 and 2022, at an average of 4,000 workers annually. The goal remains to bring in about 8,000 healthcare workers from abroad annually.