2022-02-11

Under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and in coordination with the Deanship of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University and King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, the Cultural Bureau in Canada organized a virtual workshop entitled: Acceptance for Medical Training in Canada for Fellowship and Subspecialty Programs on Saturday, February 5, 2022.

1588 physicians and 45 scholarship agencies participated in the virtual workshop while 250 people watched it live on YouTube. Within 48 hours of the event, the video reached over 2900 views.

The workshop included a welcome speech by the Acting Attaché, Dr. Mosaad Alabdullatif, in which he thanked the MOE for its support of this workshop and welcomed all attendees, and most notably the Deans of Medicine in all medical colleges in the Kingdom; Dr. Suleiman Al-Daihani, representing the Scholarship Services Center; and His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Al-Enezi, Director Training and Scholarships at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. His Excellency Dr. Alabdullatif praised the long journey of Saudi physicians' training in Canada, which began more than 40 years ago, an greatly contributed to serving the health sector in both Canada and the Kingdom. Over the past 4 decades, more than 6,000 Saudi physicians trained in Canada and contributed in treating thousands of patients. Saudi Arabia takes pride in this feat and celebrates this wealth of specialized human capital.

Later, His Excellency the Chairman of the Deans’ Committee and the Dean of the College of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University, Prof. Mahmoud Al-Ahwal, thanked the MOE and Cultural Bureau in Canada for organizing this important workshop and providing support and assistance to all trained physicians from the Kingdom over the last four decades in which The Kingdom was keen to develop this vital cadre and wished all participants success in their future professional endeavors. The next segment was an address by His Excellency Dr. Suleiman Al-Daihani the representative of the Scholarship Services Center and thanked the Bureau for organizing this workshop and the long support of the government of Saudi Arabia to physicians which contributed to the development of to the academic and health services in the Kingdom and wished all participating physicians success in their training and future service in Saudi. The following segment was an address by His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Al-Enezi, Director of Training and Scholarships at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, who provided a brief overview of the hospital’s history and its close relationship with the Bureau's team in Canada over many years to coordinate admission and scholarships for hundreds of physicians, and praised the Bureau's active role in facilitating admission and supervision procedures for physicians until they finally return to the Kingdom after the training is completed.

After the afore-mentioned introductory remarks, His Excellency the Deputy Cultural Attaché and Head of the Physicians Department at the attaché, Dr. Mabark bin Mushait, presented the workshop and highlighted the contributions of the Bureau in the admission and training process for physicians over the past four decades and how several different departments in the Bureau came together to work diligently to coordinate all aspects of admission and supervision of physicians coming from over 40 different sponsoring agencies in Saudi. Dr. Mabark bin Mushait presented the first part of the presentation, which was prepared by the team of the Physicians Department at the Bureau. The presentation provided a comprehensive overview of the admission process for medical training for the fellowship and subspecialty stage and was followed by a presentation by the Legal Affairs Department to describing the necessary needed paperwork and procedures required by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in order to come and train in Canada. Portions of the presentation were provided Ms. Ghada Qadan, Ms. Rana Basbous and Mr. Hasan Wais.

Later, short videos of current physicians training in Canada was shared with the workshop attendees and they shared their experiences and provided advice for those seeking to come to Canada in the future. The last segment of the workshop, which lasted for 1.5 hrs, was the Q & A part. At the end of the workshop, the Acting Attaché, Dr. Mosaad Alabdullatif reiterated his gratitude to all attendees and most notably the officials that took part.

The workshop can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cv57bDnLYA&t=1153s.