An Ontario judge has given a temporary lifeline to international medical school graduates who would have been excluded from qualifying for the first round of matching for medical school residency placements under the province’s controversial new rule .

On Thursday, Superior Court judge Markus Koehnen ordered the Ministry of Health to reopen the applications process so that candidates affected by the new requirement have until 5 p.m. on Dec. 8 to submit applications to the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) for residencies in Ontario.

Abruptly announced in October, the new rule would require international medical graduates to have completed at least two years of high school in Ontario to be considered for the first round of matching for medical school residency placements.

The

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