Due to recent results of the Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment (SIPPA) program, Dr. Ebenezer Adediji has set up practice in the Sun Country Health Region with an office in Weyburn.
SIPPA is a made-in-Saskatchewan program that assesses international medical practitioners on their education and clinical ability before allowing them to practise medicine in the province.
Since the introduction of the program in 2011, about 190 family physicians have completed the assessment and are practising in the province.
Thirteen new international medical graduates from the January intake schedule are now completing field assessments. If successful, they will begin practising this spring.
“As the province’s only medical school, it is our job to prepare the next generation of family doctors and specialists, and this includes the important assessment work we do with international medical graduates through the SIPPA program,” said Dr. Jon Witt, SIPPA’s medical director for the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. “Ultimately, our goal is to build capacity in family medicine throughout Saskatchewan and meet the health needs of the province.”
An increasing number of the SIPPA physicians are now indicating they have no intention of leaving the province, said Dr. Dennis Kendel,
CEO of SaskDocs.
More locally trained family medicine graduates are also choosing to stay in Saskatchewan, as evidenced by the retention rate of graduates trained at the U of S which jumped 17 per cent between 2013 and 2015 from 58 per cent to 75 per cent.
