According to the French-language media, Radio –Canada, the Quebec health department is hiring nurses from abroad. This is being done in a bid to fill the current gaps in the Canadian health care department. The recruitment process will be held over the next few months in France and Belgium, aiming to contract at least 1700 nurses and over 200 orderlies to Quebec.
Of course, the shortage of nurses and orderlies is not unusual in Quebec. All the same, the coronavirus pandemic has made it even worse as more people had to leave the occupation or retire early. Consequently, the number of nurses welcomed to Quebec from abroad is five times more compared to two years ago.
Numerous Canadian Provinces Reporting High Vacancies in Healthcare Sector
Quebec is not the only Canadian province experiencing a scarcity of nurses and other health care experts. Over the past few weeks, numerous provinces have also reported the severity of their health care conditions that existed before the pandemic but have been aggravated by it.
Globe and Mail report that Quebec has numerous nursing vacancies, especially in intensive care and emergency rooms. Suffice to say, these vacancies have increased by over 50 percent over the last year. Besides, Canada’s recent statistics on job vacancies and postings also signify a particular trend towards increased recruitment in the healthcare department.
According to January Labor Force Survey, Health care vacancy rates in Canada surpassed any other industry accounting for over 112700 of all job vacancies. This is mostly attributed to the disruption of the immigration processes owning to the border closure and strict travel restrictions due to Covid19. The survey reports also stressed the fact that immigrants play a crucial role in the health care sector. In fact, 41.3 percent of orderlies and 42.8 percent of healthcare experts were immigrants, based on the survey findings.
