Jobless doctor from Nepal says his 'dreams have been shattered' on P.E.I.
Every day, Akash Kumar Mishra applies for jobs and checks to see if he's heard back from anyone he ap‐ proached the day before.
He estimates he has put out hundreds of applications, with no response about any‐ thing but low-paying jobs he says are too far below what he's qualified to do.
It's not what he expected when he moved to P.E.I. in December.
"Despite my every effort, I'm not finding a job here, and that is the most difficult part, and that is the frustrat‐ ing thing after moving to Canada," he told CBC News in an interview.
Mishra used to work as a doctor in Nepal and Dubai, helping critically ill patients.
He understands and ac‐ cepts that he can't practise medicine in Canada without the proper certifications this country requires, but he thought his years of educa‐ tion and experience would help him land a decent job. He said he has saved lives working in critical care, and has experience in addiction care, long-term care and hos‐ pital administration.
Everyone says we need doctors in this island, we need nurses, we need healthcare workers, but everything is so slow. - Akash Kumar Mishra
"I had very big dreams. I thought I would do some‐ thing good here, after mov‐ ing to Canada, but here noth‐ ing is coming. My dreams have been shattered com‐ pletely."
Both he and his wife, Shreya Karki, got permanent residency in Canada partly on the basis of their healthcare backgrounds, he said.
Karki is working as a resi‐ dent care worker, but the in‐ come is not enough to sup‐ port them and their 11month-old son.
"It's been very hard for us," she said. "He's a man who's always used to work, back in our home country and in Dubai. I've always seen him working and him telling me, 'This patient hap‐ pened, this happened.' It feels very bad. I want him to get a proper job."
Came for better life
They came to Canada to give their son a better life. Now they are questioning their de‐ cision.
"Everyone says we need doctors in this island, we need nurses, we need healthcare workers, but everything is so slow," Karki said.
Mishra was told he was short-listed for an associate physician job with Health
P.E.I., but that was three months ago.
Six months ago, Health P.E.I. said it planned to hire five associate physicians - in‐ ternational doctors who would be paired with fully li‐ censed doctors. The province has lost some employees in health recruitment, which may be slowing the hiring process.
In an email statement to CBC News, Health P.E.I. said that due to privacy concerns, it could not comment on the specific experiences of any potential candidate.
Prince Edward Island has worked with the various licensing bodies to add new pathways in the last year for inter‐ nationally trained health care profession‐ als to gain employment here. - Statement from Health P.E.I.
"Prince Edward Island has worked with the various li‐ censing bodies to add new pathways in the last year for internationally trained health care professionals to gain employment here, including the Internationally Educated Nurses (IEN) program, as well as the addition of associate physicians. Health P.E.I. has already welcomed its first co‐ hort of IENs and will be inte‐ grating the first associate physicians into the system within months."
Mishra said it's not just about supporting his family he doesn't want to lose his expertise.
"Let me work, let me show my capabilities, let me prove myself," he pleaded.