Last Monday, Grand River Hospital welcomed Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones, to the Freeport Campus. Minister Jones announced that the government is launching three new programs that will break down barriers for internationally educated physicians to work in Ontario, retain more health care workers with mentorship opportunities, and explore innovative ways that health care workers can deliver convenient care to people in their own communities. You can read the full announcement here. 

Also highlighted in the announcement were the new “As of Right” rules that came into effect last week, making Ontario the first province to allow highly-trained physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and medical laboratory technologists already registered or licensed in another Canadian jurisdiction to start work immediately when they arrive without having to first register with one of Ontario’s health regulatory colleges.