As Nova Scotia grapples with a doctor shortage that has been described as a crisis, a group of trained doctors are wishing they were able to help.

Loai Al Rifai is one of them. He completed his medical degree in 2009 and spent two-and-a-half years working as an orthopedic surgeon in his native Syria. When he left Syria due to the civil war, he spent three years practising medicine in Jordan.

Now in Canada, Al Rifai is not yet able to share his medical knowledge with Nova Scotian patients. Instead, he finds himself working at a hardware store in Halifax.

Although he has taken classes and is conversant in English, he feels his language skills haven’t developed to the point where he is comfortable writing Nova Scotia’s mandatory medical exam.

The exam is only one of several steps graduates of medical schools outside Canada have to take before they can practise in Nova Scotia. While exact requirements vary based on a prospective doctor’s history, they can involve multiple exams and a residency period.

Mohja Alia, an employment manager with the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, told CTV Atlantic that foreign-credentialed doctors need to prove that they understand the ins and outs of the Canadian health-care system as well as the English language.

“If they don’t have the higher language level, it will take them at least six months to one year to improve their communication skills,” she said.

Speaking to CTV Atlantic, Al Rifai said he understands the need for the province’s “long process” of accrediting foreign doctors – but when he hears about clinic closures and other issues blamed on Nova Scotia’s doctor shortage, he wonders why speeding up the process doesn’t seem to be an option.

“There should be another way to help the doctors here,” he said.

“I had about four or five years of practising medicine. I know my job.”

Al Rifai has friends who are in the same predicament he’s in – qualified doctors in other parts of the world who aren’t confident enough in their language skills to write an exam in English. They’re all concerned that their skills could atrophy the longer they go without being put to use.

For now, though, all they can do is work whatever jobs they’re able to find, and watch on from the sidelines as Nova Scotia searches for a solution to its doctor shortage.