Saudi medical residents can stay for now

Some Saudi medical trainees had already cancelled leases and booked flights home. Another gave up her apartment and sold all her furniture before learning late Monday that she and more than 1,000 Saudi Arabian medical residents and fellows will, for now, be allowed to remain in Canada. The medical trainees had originally been told to leave Canada by Aug. 31, as part of the kingdom’s angry response to a Canadian government tweet urging them to release an imprisoned female activist. That deadline was later extended until Sept. 22.

This week, they were told they could remain — at least until another placement has been arranged.

Véronique Vallée, a spokesperson for the University of Ottawa, said in a statement that the school had been “made aware of the Saudi government’s decision to allow Saudi students to continue in their positions until an alternative assignment is arranged.” Vallée said the change only affects medical trainees.

All other Saudi students in Canada are required to leave. Sixty-seven Saudi physicians have been training at the University of Ottawa medical school. Most of the trainees were based at The Ottawa Hospital, with five at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. CHEO CEO Alex Munter said the loss of the five trainees would not have affected either the quality or access to care at the children’s hospital, which has 1,000 full- and part-time physicians.

“I think, for us, teaching hospital residents and fellows are part of the team. Predominately, the reaction has been that a lot of people are feeling terrible for the impact of all of this on our Saudi trainee colleagues, who are valued members of the team.”

Dr. Chris Simpson, vice-dean of the Queen’s University medical school and former president of the Canadian Medical Association, said Kingston General Hospital has 37 Saudi fellows and residents. “For a small to medium-sized enterprise, that is a pretty big number.” Munter said one or two of the trainees who had been working at CHEO have already left and others had made airline reservations. He called the incident a “wakeup call.”

Some have pointed to supply issues with Canadian-trained doctors, including the fact that some medical students and foreigntrained doctors have been unable to find a residency needed to complete their training. Ottawa Hospital spokesperson Michaela Schreiter said the hospital is monitoring the situation and working with physicians and the University of Ottawa faculty of medicine “to ensure that there is no impact on patient safety and quality of care.”