Steven Globerman: Canada has a scarcity of doctors, and it may get worse

While health care is a dynamic service characterized by the continual introduction of new drugs and medical devices, physicians remain at the centre of health-care delivery. It is therefore worth noting that Canada lags well behind almost all developed countries in the availability of physician services.

Specifically, Canada ranks 29th out of 33 high-income countries for the number of practising physicians relative to the population. Unless physicians in Canada are much more productive than physicians in other high-income countries, the data suggest that Canada suffers from a relative scarcity of physician services.