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TORONTO — The well-being of physicians across Canada has significantly decreased with many doctors reporting poorer mental health than before the COVID-19 pandemic, a new survey suggests.

The Canadian Medical Association's national physician health survey, released Thursday, indicates that 53 per cent of respondents reported symptoms of burnout, including emotional exhaustion.

The reported burnout rate among doctors was 1.7 times higher than it was in the association's previous survey in 2017.

The survey suggests that one-quarter of respondents were experiencing severe or moderate anxiety and almost half of the respondents were struggling with depression.

Forty-nine per cent of physicians who participated in the survey also indicated they were likely to reduce or modify their clinical hours in the next two years.

The association's president, Dr. Alika Lafontaine, said the participants' responses "reflect the current state of the health-care system," adding the COVID 19 pandemic exacerbated many challenges physicians have been facing for years.

"People pulling back full-time clinical practice, people doing different things in order to mitigate to burnout, more pervasive negative sentiment towards the direction that the health-care system is going and then just how this is affecting certain types of physicians more ... family physicians in particular are really struggling," he said in a recent interview.

The online survey involved 4,121 physicians, medical residents and medical students who participated between Oct. 13 and Dec. 13, 2021.

Lafontaine, who is a practising anesthesiologist in Grande Prairie, Alta., said doctors are resilient but the stress levels they face are very high.

"We've been trained in situations where stress is a normal part of work," he said. "We know that providing care in the medical system is a stressful job, but that stress has just completely gone out of control."

The survey suggests 36 per cent of physicians have had thoughts of suicide at some point in their life, compared to 18 per cent of doctors saying they thought about suicide in 2017.

Fifty-seven per cent of all respondents said they always or often feel fatigued at work, and only 36 per cent of respondents saidthey always or often get optimal sleep.

Lafontaine said provincial governments across Canada have had an "obsession with efficiency" over the last two decades, and health-care providers have not received the support they need to make sure their work environments are sustainable.

He said health-care providers, administrators and governments should start working toward pan-Canadian solutions.

"And then make sure that we have the right priorities: focusing on sustainable work environments, making sure that high-quality, high-safety patient care is provided," he said.

Lafontaine, who was recently elected as the first Indigenous president to the Canadian Medical Association, said the federal government can help by working toward more collaboration in health human resources.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2022.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press

BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. government is suspending 26 flights by Chinese airlines from the United States to China in a dispute over anti-virus controls after Beijing suspended flights by American carriers.

The Department of Transportation on Thursday complained Beijing violated an air travel agreement and treated airlines unfairly under a system that requires them to suspend flights if passengers test positive for COVID-19.

U.S. regulators suspended seven flights by Air China Ltd. from New York City and a total of 19 flights from Los Angeles by Air China, China Eastern Airlines Ltd., China Southern Airlines Ltd. and Xiamen Airlines Ltd., according to the Department of Transportation.

It said that was equal to the number of flights United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines were required to cancel under Beijing's “circuit-breaker” system.

The ruling Communist Party's “zero COVID” strategy aims to keep the virus out of China while other governments are shifting to living with the disease. That has kept case numbers low but disrupted travel, manufacturing and trade. Beijing is easing travel curbs, but most foreign visitors still are barred from China.

Until Aug. 7, if up to nine passengers on a flight tested positive, a carrier could suspend a flight for two weeks or reduce the passengers it carried to 40% of the possible total, according to DoT. It said that since Aug. 7 airlines have been required to suspend a flight if the number of positive tests reaches 4% of passengers on one flight.

The agency complained that airlines face “undue culpability” for passengers who present negative test results before boarding but test positive after arriving in China.

China’s actions are “premised on circumstances wholly outside of the carriers’ control,” the U.S. statement said.

“We reserve the right to take additional action” if Beijing imposes “further circuit-breaker measures,” the statement said.

The Associated Press

• To henceforth issue tickets in dollars only

By Shola Adekola - Lagos

The British flag carrier, British Airways has given the federal government an ultimatum within when to pay its trapped funds or watch it pull out from Nigeria by December.

According to information gathered, on Friday, the British airline also closed its inventory this morning to ameliorate further accumulation of trapped funds in Nigeria and to henceforth commence issuance of tickets only in dollars.

The airline gave the directive during a business meeting held with the national executive council of the National Association of Travel Agencies (NANTA) where it declared its commitment to servicing the needs of travel agencies in Nigeria.

A statement issued by the leadership of NANTA to its members declared: “As members may be aware that British Airways closed inventory this morning, please be informed that this inventory closure is a necessary action taken by British Airways to mitigate the increase of their trapped funds.

“However, British Airways provides reassurance that it is still flying in and out of Nigeria and is currently seeking earnest solutions to address the demands of its customers.”

The travel agencies’ representatives promised to intimate its members subsequently on how existing tickets will henceforth be serviced.

Following the deadline issued by the airline, Tribune Online gathered that passengers or their agents have been cautioned against paying or issuing tickets beyond December. https://tribuneonlineng.com/tr...

By Shola Adekola & Joseph Inokotong

Information released to journalists reiterated that the Bank was not against any company repatriating its funds from the country, adding that what the Bank stood for was an orderly exit for those that might be interested in doing so.

With the release of the amount, operators and travellers will now heave huge sighs of relief in terms of running their operations.

Due to their inability to repatriate their ticket sales, Emirates had earlier last week threatened to suspend all flights from Nigeria, effective from 1st September, 2022.

Similarly, there were indications that British Airways was equally considering suspending operations in Nigeria from December 2022 if payment of its trapped funds in the country is not paid.
https://tribuneonlineng.com/fg...

By STEWART CARR FOR MAILONLINE

Nigerian students have become the third largest foreign student group in the UK, following in the footsteps of India and China - after a seismic 686 per cent increase since before the pandemic.

Home Office figures reveal 65,929 Nigerian nationals were granted a sponsored study visa in the year ending June 2022.

This is a rise of 57,545 (686 per cent) compared to 2019, when 8,384 were given.

Overall, international student numbers have risen by 71 per cent over that period, with 486,868 student visas granted to main applicants and their dependents in the year up to June - 202,147 more than 2019.

Nigerian students have become the third largest foreign student group in the UK, following in the footsteps of India and China

A Home Office spokesman said: '[This] is the highest on record in our time series, with the substantial increase representing both a recovery from lower numbers during the Covid-19 pandemic but also an increase on the pre-pandemic period.'

There were 117,965 grants to Indian nationals this year, an increase of 215 per cent compared to 2019. 

Chinese nationals were the second most common nationality with 115,056 visas granted, albeit 4 per cent lower than 2019.

Non-Russell group universities now make up 56 per cent of all CAS used in study visa applications. This is the highest proportion of Non-Russell group CAS seen since the Sponsorship time series began in 2010.

The head of student processing group Ucas has said more students from Nigeria, Ghana and Vietnam should be recruited, amid a row about international admissions - with accusations that some universities are seeking to benefit from the higher fees overseas students pay.

Home Office figures reveal 65,929 Nigerian nationals were granted a sponsored study visa in the year ending to June 2022. This is a rise of 57,545 (686 per cent) compared to 2019

Clare Marchant said she was working with vice-chancellors across the country to improve takeup among the three countries.

'There is a significant Chinese presence in that international market,' Ms Marchant said. 'But it might be good to see in five years' time that it is more balanced with other parts of the world.'

Unlike fees for home students, which are capped at £9,250, international scholars now pay almost three times that amount – an average of £24,000. 

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said: 'It's good that our universities take students from all around the world.

'But it's important that we keep recruitment from abroad within bounds so British universities are fully developing British talent.

'Since overseas students pay higher fees, there is always the risk that this benefit will outweigh the importance of developing British talent.'

• Gatwick Airport canceled 26 flights on Tuesday due to "late-notice" staff absences.
• The air traffic control staffing issues caused 13 departing and 13 arriving flights to be canceled.
• This disruption came as the London airport announced it was lifting its passenger cap.

Gatwick Airport canceled flights in and out of London on Tuesday due to "late-notice" staff absences, a spokesperson confirmed to Insider. 

Gatwick told the BBC that 13 departing and 13 arriving flights were canceled due to staffing issues within air traffic control.

A spokesperson for the London airport told Insider: "Restrictions were put on the number of flights that could arrive into Gatwick yesterday, due to late notice staff absence in the airport's control tower. We are operating as normal today."

This comes just a day after the airport announced it was lifting its passenger cap, which limited the number of travelers that could pass through the airport, and declared it was back to "business as usual" after a chaotic summer of travel disruptions. 

Another London airport, Heathrow, extended its passenger cap by a month on August 15. This led major UK airline British Airways (BA) to cut a proportion of its scheduled winter flights, The BBC reported.

Related video: UK: Heathrow airport restricts flight departures, halts ticket sales

UK: Heathrow airport restricts flight departures, halts ticket sales

There have been several reports of airport staffing issues disrupting travel this summer. 

Earlier this month, an anonymous pilot based in Manchester Airport told iNews that although staffing issues and travel disruptions were generally improving, "as soon as one or two people start ringing in sick that whole kind of supply chain starts falling apart."

Staff at Gatwick's air traffic control center are employed by Air Navigation Solutions (ANS), rather than directly by the airport. 

Representatives for ANS did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.

An ANS spokesperson told the BBC on Tuesday that the company regretted any issues caused, saying it was "working closely" with the airport and airlines to minimize disruption.

The spokesperson said: "Despite thorough planning and pre-emptive contingency measures in place to address any potential issues, our capacity is currently being slightly affected by a series of isolated cases of short-notice sickness amongst our team of skilled air traffic controllers at London Gatwick."

(Bloomberg) --

As Europe grapples with a summer of travel chaos, the wealthiest are increasingly taking matters into their own hands.

Private-jet use has surged by almost a third in recent months compared to pre-pandemic levels, stretching airport capacity from Ibiza to Mykonos and stoking a political backlash in France.

London logged the most private flights -- more than 12,000 in July -- while Naples, Amsterdam and Berlin saw the biggest increases in private traffic among the most popular airports from 2019 levels, according to data compiled by the European Business Aviation Association. 

The surge comes as Europeans, eager to travel as Covid restrictions were lifted, flocked to airlines that have struggled to add back staff they shed during the pandemic. British Airways Plc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and other major carriers have cancelled tens of thousands of intra-European flights this summer amid the worker shortage.

“The level of convenience is just incomparable when you’re relying on scheduled airlines that have not put their game back together,” said Richard Koe, managing director at aviation consultancy WingX. The number of people flying private for the first time has grown by as much as 40%, he said.

Some European CEOs have made the switch to avoid the travel disruptions, as have many well-heeled American travelers enjoying the dollar’s recent gains vis-a-vis the euro. North America made up the biggest proportion of international arrivals in Europe.

The rapid growth has sparked a political storm in France over private jets’ carbon emissions as the country tries to meet its climate targets. In an Aug. 20 interview with Le Parisien, Transport Minister Clement Beaune said he wants to require private jets to make flight details public and set guidelines for their use when rail or commercial air options are available.

In the UK, where tabloids have long called out celebrities, royals and others for using private jets, the shift is also drawing scrutiny. With soaring inflation and a cost-of-living crisis bearing down on the lower and middle classes, the jet surge has become a key point of economic contrast in the country.

London reported 37% more private flights in July than in the same period in 2019, while Paris saw a 43% increase, according to the data. Overall in Europe, private traffic rose almost 30% from pre-pandemic levels to nearly 179,000 flights.

The numbers are even more striking in light of the drop in air traffic from Russia following the war in Ukraine and steep international sanctions. In July, Moscow reported just 354 private flights, a fraction of the 1,862 flights logged three years ago.

Private aviation has had its own set of disruptions. Many jets, for instance, are out of action due to maintenance delays caused by supply-chain issues in China. 

“People used to call 24 or 48 hours ahead to get an aircraft to Ibiza,” said Isabelle Clerc, head of sales at Aeroaffaires, a network of private jet operators in Europe. “That wasn’t a problem last year, but this year if you haven’t booked a week before you can forget it.”

Prices have risen accordingly, driven not only by the lack of planes but also by a 73% rise in jet fuel prices since last summer. Flying private from Paris to Mykonos now costs about 25,000 euros ($24,993), almost twice as much as a year ago, according to Aeroaffaires. 

With a possible global recession on the horizon, the outlook is unclear. WingX’s Koe said the current tightness in the private-jet market could continue if airlines are forced to continue cutting flights into the winter.

Clerc was more cautious. 

“Even if we had a very good year, that doesn’t mean it’s going to increase, increase and increase again,” Clerc said. “There will be a stabilization, and this autumn and the next winter will not be easy periods.

By Wole Oyebade

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) release of $265 million out of foreign carriers’ funds that are stranded in the country, effectively calmed frayed nerves in the aviation industry.

   
Importantly, it also doused mounting tension over feelers that more foreign airlines were preparing to announce withdrawal plans from Nigerian routes, coupled with galloping spikes in the prices of international airfares.
 
The aviation sector has lately been apprehensive over foreign airlines’ stranded funds, estimated to have reached $464 million as of July. Emirates Airlines, among others, had notified the government and its customers of plans to halt Nigerian operations, effective September 1, 2022.
 
Exits of foreign carriers that account for 80 per cent of commercial aviation earnings to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would hobble the projected growth of the air transport sector and cost Nigeria $1.36 billion, or N567.12 billion (at $/N417) yearly.
 
However, the apex bank late Friday announced the release of $265 million to the airlines to settle outstanding ticket sales out of the $464 million trapped fund.

 
An analysis of the figure showed that the sum of $230 million was released as special FX intervention, while $35 million was released through Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) auction.
 
The Director, Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Osita Nwanisobi, said Governor Godwin Emefiele and his team were concerned about the development, what it portends for the sector, travellers as well as the country in the comity of nations.
  
The sales representative of one of the airlines that had planned to also announce its withdrawal plan next week said that the release and attendant pullback were timely.
 
“Foreign airlines threatening to halt operations mean so much for the airlines and we the workers, as much as it does to our customers and the country at large. Mere talks about the likelihood of exits having doubled available ticket prices on some airlines because operators keep mopping away the lower layers of fares from the Nigerian market. The uncertainty was palpable.

 
“But with the latest intervention, we can all look forward to the best. Certainly, airlines will review their options and make positive adjustments in the days ahead,” the representative assured.
 
The Chairman of the Airline Passenger Joint Committee (APJC) of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Bankole Bernard, yesterday, said the intervention was a welcome development and much appreciated by the entire industry.
 
Bernard, however, regretted that the release or assurance to that effect did not come earlier to manage the situation.
 
He said: “We had seen the government with a posture that seems to call the bluff of everyone even when the reputation of the entire country is at stake. A better engagement with the trade partners and words of assurance could have solved a lot of problems and saved our country this avoidable embarrassing situation,” he said.

  
Secretary General of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI), Group Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd), reckoned that the Federal Government did the needful to it from international condemnation.
 
Ojikutu said that the money is Nigeria’s debt to the foreign airlines and its obligations to the Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASAs) and IATA.
 
“What has happened to these funds locked up in our country is not different from how Nigeria Airways was excised out of IATA commercial exchange in the early 90s when it could not pay the monies owed to some airlines.

“Obligations in international commercial aviation are done or returned in dollars. These airlines pay our public and private service providers in dollars, why would they not take back home in dollars their sales in naira? It is also a volte-face by those in government administration who cannot account for the dollars earned in commercial aviation from these airlines,” Ojikutu said.
 
IATA, the clearing house for over 280 world airlines, had urged the Federal Government to ensure foreign airlines repatriate their funds in the interest of Nigerian aviation. The body had expressed disappointment that the amount of airline money blocked by the Nigerian government grew to $464 million in July, warning that the development would hurt Nigerian travellers and the economy more. 

(Bloomberg) --

Students in the UK face working multiple jobs and even visiting food banks in the coming academic year as rising inflation erodes the value of loans and grants.

A fifth of students say they’ll have to take on two jobs when universities start up again from September, according to a survey of 1,500 students by recruitment website Breakroom. Maintenance loans that students can apply for from the government are set to be the lowest in real terms in seven years, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies.

“We’re hearing from students who are working multiple jobs to make ends meet, who can’t even afford to travel to their university library, and who are cutting back on cooking food due to spiraling energy costs,” a spokesperson for the National Union of Students said by email. “Our research has shown that thousands more are relying on food banks and buy now, pay later loans.”

While students have always had to scrape by, the surge in inflation hits them especially hard because maintenance loans are fixed while living costs surge. Most won’t be compensated by the kind of pay raises being pushed for by people in full-time employment.

It’s one more example of how those surviving on the lowest amount of money will bear the brunt of rising food and energy prices. The UK government, currently embroiled in a battle to choose the next prime minister, is under pressure to increase support for low income households or risk a surge in poverty. 

Undergraduates in England can apply for a loan to cover living expenses that’s calculated based on family income and whether they plan to live at home during their studies. The maximum loan for those from low-income households studying in London is currently £12,667 ($15,000), about £1,000 short of the minimum living cost in the city, according to University College London estimates.

Read More: Spiraling London Room Rents Exacerbate Cost of Living Squeeze

The costs are also mounting for those attending university outside of the capital because items such as rent and food, where inflation is hitting the hardest, make up the bulk of student spending. Aminah Memon, a student at the University of Oxford, worked all summer in case she needs to supplement her loan and the scholarship she receives for being from a low-income household.

“I’ll have to be more conscious than last year and always be planning ahead,” said Memon, who doesn’t drink or go clubbing. “My flatmates and I have also decided to share weekly shopping and meal prep to split costs.” 

Students also face higher interest payments on their loans when they graduate, although they don’t have to start paying the debt back until they are earning over £27,295 a year. The government recently said it would cap interest on loan repayments at 6.3%. 

Changing Behaviour

The government has “continued to increase support for living costs on an annual basis for students from the lowest-income households since the start of the pandemic, and they now have access to the largest ever amounts in cash terms,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Education. 

There are already signs that the surging costs are changing behavior. The education charity UCAS says it has recorded a drop in the distances students are planning to travel to get to higher education, indicating many are choosing to stay at home. Clare Marchant, who runs the charity, is concerned many potential students will opt not to go into higher education at all.

Olivia Gilbert, who starts a postgraduate degree in the capital in September, says she’s thinking about taking on daytime work as a nanny and evening work in bars and clubs.

“Trying to fit my studies and just general self-care around that is going to be very difficult and will definitely negatively impact my academic ability,” Gilbert said. “I’ve never had to work two jobs before this.”

ROME (AP) — Italian authorities scrambled on Sunday to relieve overcrowding in shelters after scores of boats carrying a total of about 1,000 migrants reached Italy’s southern shores and two of its tiny islands over the weekend.

Nearly 50 boats arrived between Friday night and Saturday on Lampedusa island off Sicily, according to state radio and other Italian media. Other boats carrying migrants reached Pantelleria, another tiny island favored by vacationers.

Hundreds of migrants stepped ashore from the virtual flotilla of smugglers' vessels on those islands. Several of the vessels launched by migrant smugglers held as few as eight passengers. But others had around 100 passengers aboard, many of them from Tunisia, according to the reports.

Other boats reached the shores of the Italian mainland on Saturday, either unaided or assisted by Italian coast guard vessels.

The Italian news agency ANSA said that 92 migrants, most of them from Afghanistan, reached Puglia — the “heel” of the boot-shaped peninsula — in a sailboat on Saturday. Still other migrants sailed to Calabria in the “toe” of the peninsula, while other boats reached Sicily and Sardinia, Italy's two biggest islands, in the last two days.

On Sardinia, Carabinieri paramilitary police spotted 29 migrants walking along a road, ANSA said.

The humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders tweeted that one of its rescue ships, Geo Barents, saved 25 migrants, including five minors, from a small boat in distress in international waters near Libya on Saturday night. Geo Barents already had other migrants abroad plucked to safety in other rescue operations, the group said.

With the disembarkation of hundreds of migrants from boats in the last days, the residence temporarily housing rescued migrants on Lampedusa quickly became overcrowded. Corriere della Sera said the residence housed 1,500 asylum-seekers, nearly four times its capacity.

Interior ministry authorities arranged for a commercial passenger ferry to sail from Sicily to Lampedusa, where it was expected to arrive on Sunday night, embark 250 migrants and take them to Sicilian migrant residences to lessen crowding on the tiny island's facility.

While hundreds of thousands of migrants have set sail from Libyan shores aboard smugglers' boats in the last decades, many also set out from Tunisia.

Italian media noted the Tunisian coast guard had thwarted at least a score of attempts by vessels filled with migrants to head toward Italy and rescued many others from boats in distress on Friday and Saturday.