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“Even if there is no amicable solution to the issue, it is not possible to mobilize all the Saudi trainees elsewhere in such a short period of time,” Rybicki writes in the editorial, which was approved for publication by the University of Ottawa.

Rybicki, who is also chair of the department of radiology at The Ottawa Hospital, made it clear he wasn’t commenting on the politics of the Saudi-Canada dispute, but said the Saudi withdrawal would have “significant” impact on Canadian hospitals and medical schools. The Saudis will take with them valuable knowledge and experience when they leave their programs.

“These lessons are hard, or impossible, to replace as all research programs are different,” he wrote.

“From the Canadian hospital side, finding the proper human resources to manage the void created by the departure of our Saudi trainees will take Herculean efforts. Having a few months of grace will help hospitals manage and cope.”

There are 67 medical trainees at the University of Ottawa, most of whom train and work at either The Ottawa Hospital or Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Rybicki said he has had more than 80 Saudi trainees in his own labs, both in Ottawa and at the Harvard Medical School in Boston.

In another op-ed written for the Citizen and published online Thursday, Dr. John Stewart, a professor emeritus at McGill University, criticized the “very disquieting” aspects of the Canada-Saudi medical training partnership.