ManitobaInternational and out-of-province recruitment helped drive what the province’s College of Physicians and Surgeons says is believed to be a record increase in the number of doctors registered to practise in Manitoba.More than half of newly registered physicians graduated from med school outside Canada, report saysArturo Chang · CBC News · Posted: Sep 18, 2025 10:19 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoThe province saw a net gain of 164 doctors between April 30, 2024, and April 30, 2025, according to the latest annual report from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)International and out-of-province recruitment helped drive what the province’s College of Physicians and Surgeons says is believed to be a record increase in the number of doctors registered to practise in Manitoba.Manitoba saw a net gain of 164 doctors between April 30, 2024, and April 30, 2025, according to the college’s annual report, published Thursday. The total number of doctors in the province rose to 3,498.The increase would be the largest net gain since at least 2001 — the earliest figure available in past published College of Physicians reports.Jeremy de Jong, director of registration with the regulatory body, said based on that information, the latest gain appears to be record-setting.The main factors in the improvement are an increase in the number of medical school and residency seats in recent years, and recruitment efforts in Canada and internationally, he said.”There’s so many different things going on that are all devoted to helping us train people, helping us recruit people and helping us to retain,” de Jong said Thursday.The college reported a net gain of 133 doctors in 2023-24, which was the largest increase on record to that point, surpassing 2014, when the province added 83 physicians.This week’s report says 302 new doctors registered with the college as of April 30, 2025. More than half (167) obtained their medical degree outside Canada.The other newly registered doctors are an almost even split between people who obtained their medical degree in Manitoba (70) and those who did so elsewhere in Canada (67).Dr. Nichelle Desilets, president of the advocacy group Doctors Manitoba, said a streamlining of the application process for international medical graduates, and the expansion of a training program preparing them to practise in the province, seem to have paid off.”My initial reaction is excitement and gratitude, and a sense of optimism that for all the difficulties in the health-care system right now, we’re doing something that’s making a difference,” she said.However, she said the number of new physicians trained in Manitoba “could have been bigger” if more locally trained physicians decided to practise here.”Those folks have trained here, they’ve seen the ins and outs of the system.… [So] why aren’t they staying with that knowledge that they have? Is there something impacting their desire to stay?”Dr. Peter Nickerson, dean and vice-provost of health sciences at the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine, said the report wouldn’t account for a new cohort that graduated in July, and numbers vary in any given year depending on factors like length of residency.The number of graduates who decide to do their residency training in Manitoba is higher than other medical schools, and 75 per cent of family medicine residents stay in the province, Nickerson said in an email.Out of the 3,498 doctors in the province as of the latest report, 1,672 were family physicians, 1,754 were specialists and 72 were residents with a full certificate of practice, according to the college’s report.Manitoba adds record net number of net new doctors: collegeThe College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba’s annual report shows a net gain of 164 physicians for the 2024-25 fiscal year. That’s the largest net gain since at least 2001 — the earliest figure available in past published college reports.
Manitoba adds record net number of new doctors, boosted by international grads: physicians’ college
