‘Just show me, how can I do this?’

Dr. Mohamed Elgadi just wants to treat patients again.

Before he and his family came to Winnipeg as Ukrainian refugees in 2022, he was a practising emergency doctor. Now, struggling to keep their family out of debt, he and his wife work long hours for little pay.

Elgadi has worked in a warehouse, delivered food and even helped fight wildfires while studying, but can only watch Manitoba’s struggle to retain doctors from the sidelines, because he can’t afford to pay for the testing required to qualify as a practising physician in the province.

“I guarantee you that I knocked every door in Winnipeg, even small places, and everyone is telling me that the same thing — we need doctors,” Elgadi, 39, said Wednesday.

“All I’m asking is, just show me, how can I do this?”

He’s currently studying for an exam on the weekend that could help him qualify to work as a clinical assistant, which he said cost him about $3,000. A written exam in October will cost another $1,500.

He became a doctor in 2012, and worked in Ukraine and Libya. He’s desperate to return to the medical field.

“Everyone is telling me that the same thing – we need doctors.”

“I love being a doctor,” he said. “I love to help people.”

Clinical assistants are health-care professionals who support physicians by delivering medical care under specific conditions and practice settings, according to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba. They must work under supervision and must function within clearly defined scopes of practice.

The number of international medical graduates in Manitoba is increasing. From May 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025, they made up 35 per cent of all physicians in Manitoba, up two per cent from the previous fiscal year, according to the college’s annual report, set to be released Thursday.

Nearly half of all physicians practising in the province during the last fiscal year received their credentials in Manitoba.

Resources for newcomers with medical credentials and experience include Manitoba Start — a non-profit employment agency funded by the provincial and federal governments — and the province’s Health Care Retention and Recruitment Office.

Those resources offer a variety of supports, but financial considerations are among the obstacles faced by international medical graduates hoping to practise in Manitoba and elsewhere in Canada, said Jeremy de Jong, director of registration with the college, the province’s licensing body.

“It adds up to an enormous amount of money… it’s a huge barrier,” he said.

Many are recruited by agencies, clinics and regional health authorities — typically with a return-of-service agreement that helps cover expenses.

The college’s international medical graduate working group sent out a survey months in the making on Wednesday to working physicians in Manitoba about their experience integrating into the medical system.

“We’re putting an enormous amount of time and effort into that, not only at the college, but at other organizations,” de Jong said.

A Doctors Manitoba spokesperson said that if the province wants to reduce the size of its physicians shortage — the second-worst in Canada — it will have to “streamline that process for well-qualified international doctors to help speed up the process and reduce the cost.”

“I love being a doctor … I love to help people.”

“There is still plenty of opportunity for Manitoba to support internationally trained physicians with the costs to transfer their medical credentials, in a way that helps improve recruitment and retention to address our physician shortage,” the spokesperson said in an email.

In the meantime, Elgadi and his family have found support in Manitoba. Friend Irene Howard was moved by their story and launched a GoFundMe with her daughter’s help after getting to know them, particularly Elgadi’s wife, Viktoriia Zamorska.

The fundraiser has a goal of $5,000 and has raised $2,250 as of Wednesday afternoon.

“I think if there’s an opportunity to help anybody, my faith plays a big part of that, but I’ve always felt… that it takes so little to show feeling for other people,” Howard said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca