Report: Female doctors hurt productivity

The growing ranks of female physicians in Canada will slash medical productivity by the equivalent of at least 1,600 doctors within a decade, according to a new analysis of data indicating that female MDs work fewer hours on average than their male colleagues. The paper comes a year after a blue-chip list of medical educators publicly condemned what they called the scapegoating of women for Canada's severe doctor shortage. Mark Baerlocher, MD the study's lead author, acknowledged he is tackling a thorny issue, but stressed he does not favor curbing the number of female physicians. Instead, the study calls for greater increases in medical-school enrollment to offset the findings.