Canada’s push to ‘poach’ nurses from abroad fuels fears of shortages in developing countries – CBC

‘Significant uptick’ in international recruitment as wealthy countries look for quick fix to nursing shortages

Nov 20, 2022

As Canada and other wealthy countries scramble to hire nurses from overseas, there are growing concerns that the exodus of health-care workers from developing countries will push their stretched medical systems closer to a crisis point.

The federal government and provinces are spending millions of dollars trying to entice foreign-trained nurses to Canada — with overseas hiring campaigns, priority immigration pathways and monetary grants to individual nurses.

But Canada has strong competition from Europe, the U.S. and other countries that are also mounting aggressive recruitment campaigns touting high wages and immigration opportunities: health workers can get cheap U.K. visas, while the Australian state of Victoria offers “relocation packages” for foreign nurses, equivalent to as much as $11,670 Cdn.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-international-nurses-poorer-countries-worried-1.6655231