A Whitehorse doctor forced to move her practice to the Northwest Territories is once again able to practise medicine in the Yukon thanks to changes to the Yukon Medical

Act which came into effect last week.

Among the amendments is one which allows physicians who receive full licensure in any province or territory to be accepted to work in the Yukon.

The changes come almost six months after Dr. Xiu-Mei Zhang was forced to relocate her practice to the Northwest Territories after her special licence to practise medicine in the Yukon expired.

Zhang was trained as a medical doctor in China before moving to Whitehorse 20 years ago with her husband, Jim.

Once in Whitehorse, she practised Eastern medicine at the pair's East West Health Centre. In 2005, she added Western medicine to her practice thanks to the introduction of the special licensing program.

The program allowed foreign doctors to work five years in the territory, but they must successfully complete a two-day College of Family Physicians of Canada exam to keep working after that.

Zhang said she was not aware of the exam.

In 2006, the territory suggested she attend the Western Alliance for Assessment of International Physicians, a Health Canada program, billed as a way to help foreign doctors get practice-ready.

After passing those tests, Zhang thought she had done everything the government required. So when she was told she needed to take the national exam, she was unprepared and failed.

A second attempt to take the test came days after her mother died, and she failed again.

However, since each province and territory sets its own policies regarding foreign-trained doctors, Zhang chose to begin working in the Northwest Territories. There, her experience was enough to get her fully licensed without the national exam.

After months working away from home, Zhang received a phone call Wednesday from Dr. Bruce Beaton, chair of the Yukon Medical Council, letting her know her Northwest Territories licence is now enough to allow her to work in Whitehorse.

"I was shocked. I wasn't prepared to hear the news like that,” Zhang said Thursday from her home in Whitehorse. "I am so happy to be back.”

Since moving to the Northwest Territories, Zhang has been commuting back and forth between her work and her family in Whitehorse.

She said she hopes to be back in the Yukon permanently by the start of 2012 and return to the downtown Whitehorse clinic where she worked before leaving.

"The clinic was so supportive during all this, I really appreciate everything they did for me,” she said.

Meanwhile, patients are relieved and excited to have their doctor back.

"I just about jumped up and down when I heard,” longtime Whitehorse resident Michael Brine said Thursday.

Brine called the veteran doctor's forced departure "absolutely crazy,” adding that Zhang provided an important service to Whitehorse thanks to her knowledge of both Eastern and Western medicine.

"We should have the free will to decided how we want to be treated,” he said.

When the news first broke that Zhang was leaving Whitehorse, angry patients, upset their doctor could practise in one territory but not the Yukon, sent a petition with more than 150 names to the territory's top politicians calling for a change.

From there, Zhang's story has appeared in media across the country as well as in four daily newspapers in China.

Health and Social Services Minister Glenn Hart insists changes to the act were in the works for years, and not prompted by public pressure created by Zhang's story.

"We began public consultation on the act from April to May 2008,” he told the Star Thursday.

Hart said the changes bring the Yukon into compliance with Canadian labour mobility provisions under the Agreement on Internal Trade.

"What it does do is it allows us to recruit and retain quality physicians from across the country,” he said.

Currently, all provinces and territories except Nunavut have accepted the principle that a fully licensed physician in one jurisdiction should be eligible for a full licence in other jurisdictions.

Back home, Zhang is just happy to move forward with the life she always intended to have in Whitehorse.

"Although I had many, many loss in one aspect this year, the love I received and the life experiences I had gained I treasured very much,” she said in an e-mail sent to friends following the news.

"... my heart is filled with the comfort and warmness of my family, friends and patients' support, now I (that) am called back.”

By ASHLEY JOANNOU

Star Reporter