Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services is conducting a recruitment campaign in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Togo, a practice discouraged by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Quebec has suffered from a health worker shortage in recent years and has turned to foreign countries to meet its needs.
Since 2017, Recruitment santé Québec, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS), has attracted more than 1,900 employees, including nurses, beneficiary caregivers and midwives, coming from 24 countries: Africa, South America and Europe.
And it’s not finished yet.
Candidates from Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Togo will attend interviews at the end of the month as part of the Quebec Sub-Saharan Africa Days to land beneficiary jobs here.
However, the four countries have been on a WHO “red list” since 2020.
The Health Workforce Support and Safeguard List, which includes 55 countries, was designed to alert Western nations and urge them to protect vulnerable health systems, explains Laurence Codjia, WHO adviser on health workers. Personnel issues.
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The shortage of health workers in Quebec is relative, says Laurence Codjia. In a country like Benin, which is one of the countries with one of the most vulnerable health systems, there is a significant shortage of health workers.
If we rely on WHO data, Benin has 2.9 nurses per 10,000 inhabitants, while Quebec has 77, according to statistics from the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ). In Cameroon the ratio is even worse: 1.9 nurses per 10,000 inhabitants.
Health care there will be poor, warns Laurence Codjia, who herself comes from Benin. This means that a large proportion of the population will not have access to quality healthcare services.
She also fears that epidemic risks will increase and these places will become more vulnerable to environmental crises.
We can only make recommendations. And we recommend avoiding mass recruitment […] Significant numbers of staff are being recruited, even though we know that these countries are among those experiencing critical staff shortages.
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WHO adviser Laurence Codjia believes Quebec needs to invest in training health workers in the province, but also in the countries where it recruits.
Photo: Radio-Canada
However, every professional has the right to migrate, it is their safest right, agrees Laurence Codjia.
In Canada, in Quebec, [les travailleurs de la santé] She admits that they have better working conditions than in Benin, at least in terms of salaries. Therefore, they are inevitably attracted to what Quebec has to offer.
At the very least, the WHO wants states that recruit from these countries to give them something in return.
Make sure you help them strengthen their healthcare system, pleads Ms. Codjia. We should help train new staff, but also help these countries improve working conditions. […] to facilitate recruitment.
Several countries have also adopted the WHO Global Code of Conduct for the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, which provides increased support for countries with a shortage of health workers.
Quebec says it practices ethical recruiting practices
Quebec’s Ministry of Immigration, Francisification and Integration (MIFI), which is also responsible for the mission in sub-Saharan Africa, ensures that it is carried out in accordance with the local labor market.
There is currently no signed agreement, but MIFI is working with the target countries to formalize these partnerships, writes Gabriel Bélanger, spokesman for the ministry, in response to our questions.
The mission […] In the health sector, it is mainly aimed at beneficiary carers. This occupation has been identified as not at risk by local government partners.
Nevertheless, nursing staff, for example, have been hired there in recent years.
The international recruitment phenomenon has also accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The United Nations health agency predicts an estimated shortage of 18 million global health workers by 2030, especially in low-income countries where workers are attracted to jobs that pay better elsewhere.
There have already been further calls to reduce overseas recruitment, particularly during the International Congress of Nurses held in Montreal this summer. We should be able to meet the needs in our own countries, said International Council of Nurses (ICN) First Vice President Lisa Little.
The president of the OIIQ, Luc Mathieu, agrees. We have more than 83,000 nursing staff, we have never had so many, he remembers. We already have more than anywhere else in Canada.
There may be a small shortage, but the main problem is how we deploy the nurses in the network, he believes.
According to Mathieu, recruiting in countries without personnel raises ethical questions.
Yes, we are worried, he emphasizes. Whether a nurse comes individually, carries out an immigration procedure and so on is not a problem. But if we in Quebec take action in countries that already lack them and bring them here, we in the Order have a problem with that.
Approximately 10% of OIIQ members were trained outside Quebec.