The Professional Integration of International Medical Graduates: Implications of Restricted Certificates During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 emergency conditions and the call to practice for international medical graduates (IMG) has put a spotlight on their certification challenges. This study aimed at examining the root cause of the bottleneck in the certification process by analyzing the pertinent policies including the restricted certificate issued during the pandemic. The representation of the issue in the media discourse during the early months in 2020 was also studied. To this end, the Foucauldian approach to policy and discourse analysis was adopted. The results revealed that with the governance system at work any measure such as the restricted certificate would be only short-lived. The voices echoed in the discourse around the challenges also lent support to the policy analysis results, reiterating the malfunctioning of the certification system. However, the exceptional conditions created during the pandemic can be regarded as a turning point when we try to rebuild post-COVID opportunities for internationally-educated healthcare professionals.