New family doctors are now practising in Arcola and Carlyle, thanks to the most recent results of the Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment (SIPPA) program.
Dr. Osakponmwen Amayo in Arcola and Dr. Habiba Khanam in Carlyle join many other international medical graduate (IMG) colleagues already practising in Saskatchewan.
SIPPA is a made-in-Saskatchewan program that assesses IMGs on their education and clinical ability before allowing them to practise medicine. Since the program began in 2011, more than 190 new family physicians have completed the assessment and are currently practising in the province.
“Access to physician care continues to improve for people all across Saskatchewan because of SIPPA,” Rural and Remote Health Minister Greg Ottenbreit said. “We value internationally trained physicians, and we welcome them to our province. In total, we have nearly 650 more doctors practising in Saskatchewan than we did nine years ago.”
In addition, a total of 12 new international medical graduates from the September intake of SIPPA are now completing their field assessments. If successful, these family physicians will begin practising across the province this winter.
"At SIPPA, we are pleased to support Saskatchewan’s need for physicians in communities across the province,” said Dr. Jon Witt, SIPPA medical director for the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. “We currently have 12 new IMGs enrolled in the SIPPA program, and we look forward to seeing them practising in our province soon.”
“Saskdocs works closely with each SIPPA candidate to help guide them through the application process,” saskdocs’ interim CEO Erin Brady said. “There’s a lot of back and forth involved between us and the candidates, but now when we see them practising medicine here we know the effort was worth it. They are excited to practise and we’re excited to have them.”
In addition to attracting IMGs, Saskatchewan is making progress in keeping more locally-trained family medicine graduates in the province. The retention rate of family medicine graduates trained at the University of Saskatchewan has jumped by 17 per cent over the past three years – from 58 per cent to 75 per cent.
