Radiation oncology in Canada: the increasing manpower crisis.

Cancer has been the second most common cause of death in Canada for decades, and its nonsurgical management has largely been carried out by radiation oncologists for many years. Most of these specialists are not Canadian medical graduates, and the supply of suitably trained radiation oncologists is steadily diminishing in relation to the increasing numbers of patients referred to regional cancer centres. Consequently, the workload of each radiation oncologist has steadily increased to a level well beyond that recommended internationally, and it is still increasing. Unless more Canadian graduates can be attracted into the field, and unless more staff positions can be created in virtually all Canadian regional cancer centres, the high quality of patient care, teaching and research offered by radiation oncologists will suffer irreparably and will probably never recover to its former internationally recognized level. In this paper the author recommends ways in which to increase the number of radiation oncologists, though to be effective they will require the collaboration of provincial governments, medical schools, provincial cancer foundations and the medical profession.