FROM THE REGISTRAR’S DESK
Rocco Gerace, MD
Registrar
photo: D.W. Dorken
photo: istockphoto.com
Like other governing
bodies, we have seen
changes to how we
serve the public interest
150 Years
of Regulating
Medicine
I
n 1866 – a year before Confederation – the names of all
practising Ontario physicians
were written by hand into
an official ledger. There were only
a handful of doctors, then, spread
across the vast province. But that
was the first official list of practising physicians in the province and
it became the foundation for the
College of Physicians and Surgeons
of Ontario.
We were incorporated three years
later by the Medical Act as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Ontario, with two distinct functions: to be the only body with
the power to grant physicians a
licence to practise medicine in
Ontario, and the responsibility of
administering the medical qualifying examinations for the province.
Throughout the rest of the 19th
century, our main concern was putting an end to the many unqualified individuals in Ontario claiming
medical knowledge and hanging a
shingle that identified themselves as
‘doctor.’
For much of the 20th century, the
College operated with the view that
a medical degree from a recognized
institution was sufficient to practise
medicine dependably. We licensed
qualified doctors, prosecuted unlicensed individuals, and disciplined
members who had violated professional standards.
Our mandate began to expand
in the 1970s and 80s, when the
focus shifted towards ongoing
competence of Ontario’s physicians
through continuing professional
education, assessment, and remediation. We were one of the first
(if not the first) medical regulators
Issue 2, 2016 Dialogue
Issue2_16.indd 7
7
2016-06-16 12:26 PM