By 31st March, Ontario needs foreign-trained nurses to join the healthcare space. Currently, they have a requirement of thousands of nurses.
There are around 50 hospitals in the province that are in immediate need of trained nurses. The province is aiming to send at least 300 nurses to those organizations. While they apply for their license, they will be working under supervision to provide healthcare. The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) has received over 1,200 applications from foreign nurses. They all are willing to adhere to the requirement and are interested in similar initiatives.
Before the end of March, the province needs at least 6,000 professionals working in the health care field of the province. They would be mostly students who are pursuing nursing, medical, and other similar courses in health care.
Staff shortages had existed in Ontario, as well as the rest of Canada, even before the outbreak. Since COVID-19 was labelled a pandemic in March 2020, Ontario has implemented special precautions that have placed almost 6,700 medical professionals in long-term care facilities and other assisted living facilities, reducing the burden on health facilities.
The 2021 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review: Build Ontario revealed that the province has committed to spending $342 million in hiring initiatives. The goal is to spend this money for the next five years. This is focused on adding around 13,000 professionals in the industry (5,000 upskilled nurses and 8,000 in assisted living/personal support field)
“The pandemic has highlighted the need for more staff on the front lines of our health care system,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance, in a government press release. “Our government committed to spare no expense in the fight against the pandemic to protect people’s health and the economy, which is why investing in the front lines of our health care system was one of the key pillars of our plan to Build Ontario.”
In 2020, Ontario had over 20,500 nurses who were foreign-trained and possessed eligibility to practice in the province. They consisted of over 12% of the nursing workforce of the province. The share was at 10.3% in 2010.
On a weekly average, Ontario had around 11,000 new cases/day. Currently, all the new cases are for Omicron. During the Delta wave, the count stood at 500 cases/day.
