Every time you or a loved one gets a blood test, cancer screening, or other lab work, a Medical Laboratory Technologist (MLT) is working behind the scenes to make sure the results are accurate and delivered on time. These professionals are a vital but often invisible part of our healthcare system.
Toronto is facing a serious problem: we don’t have enough MLTs, and the shortage is only getting worse. According to Job Bank Canada website, there are about 4,000 MLTs working in the Greater Toronto Area, mostly in hospitals and clinics. But it’s not enough to meet demand. There are more job openings than trained professionals, and that gap is expected to grow. Right now, many labs are understaffed, causing delays in test results and that slows down the entire healthcare system, especially in already crowded emergency rooms.
Back in 2022, the Toronto Workforce Innovation Group (TWIG) released a report highlighting the growing shortage of MLTs and the critical role they play in our healthcare system. That report raised concerns about a growing shortage and today, the situation remains unchanged, with little sign of improvement.
The hiring pressure is mounting. Based on job posting data in the past 12 months, around 1000 job postings were made in Toronto by more than 200 different companies for roles like Medical Laboratory Technologists, Radiation Technologists, Sonographers, Cardiology Technologists, Pharmacy Technicians, and other allied health professionals. The average job posting remained open for nearly a month, underscoring the difficulty employers face in filling these positions.
Almost 40% of Ontario’s MLTs are eligible to retire in the next four years. That means fewer experts to process tests and train new ones. New training programs are in the works, but most students won’t graduate for a few more years. Even then, many can’t get the hands-on clinical placements they need to become certified because labs are too short-staffed to train them. Delayed test results mean delayed diagnoses and longer ER wait times. This affects everyone from someone waiting for a strep test to a more critical case of someone else waiting for cancer results. Addressing the current challenges requires coordinated action on several key fronts.
The 2024 Ontario Budget includes a commitment to add an additional 700 education seats for Medical Laboratory Technologists, Medical Lab Technicians, Medical Radiation and Imaging Technologists, and Medical Radiation Extenders. Although these efforts are already underway, but they need to be significantly intensified.
- Expand clinical placements further to ensure students can complete their training without delays
- Faster pathways into the profession, especially for internationally educated workers.
- Better support for current MLTs, including mental health care and flexible schedules to prevent burnout.
- New lab technology to ease the workload and speed up results.
Medical Laboratory Professionals are the quiet heroes of our healthcare system. If we don’t act now to support and grow this workforce, all of us in Toronto will feel the impact through longer waits, slower care, and more pressure on our hospitals.
