Canada is the second-largest source of immigrant physicians to the United States, second only to India, a new study has revealed.

One in nine Canadian-educated physicians was practicing medicine in the United States in 2006, said the study, published in Tuesday's issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The study found that if physicians born in the United States are excluded, this number is reduced to 1 in 12.

This accounts for just over half of the net loss of physicians from the Canadian-trained physician workforce, it said.

"Collectively, this is equivalent to having two average-sized Canadian medical schools dedicated to producing physicians for the United States," the study says.

The study suggests that luring back some of those Canadian physicians would go a long way toward solving the country's doctor shortage.

Canadian-educated specialists practicing in the U.S. in 2006 represented nearly 20 percent of the Canadian specialist workforce, the study said, adding that there are only 17 medical schools in Canada.

According to the study, there were 8,162 Canadian-educated doctors providing direct patient care in the U.S. in 2006. Nearly half of the Canadian-educated physicians in the U.S. graduated from three medical schools -- McGill University, the University of Toronto and the University of Manitoba.

Source: Xinhua