First off as for the thread question: The TC medical is very basic and if WJ wants to insure there pilots are in top shape good on them. I hardly think that just because they are "low cost" they can't afford an extra 100 bucks for a pilot there about to spend tens of thousands on in training and put in trust of there million dollar aircraft not to mention countless lives of passengers.
A few companies I have worked for required there own medical and was more than pee on a stick and how much do you drink like TC. "Is that a week or a day?"
They took the urine sample and a blood sample and sent it off to a third party lab for testing. And sent the results to my doctor and a disclosure to the company's Doctor who would keep anything confidential unless it would effect the safe operation of the Aircraft.
As for the side debate here, I think if you train a person to do one thing such as fly an Aircraft such as 737 from day one you would be very proficient at it and its systems. Here in Canada Having done the bush flying and worked my way up to a Boeing I would argue that some Canadian pilot are more rounded in there flying experiance than someone trained for a specific type. I can recal taking a few Jet jocks from Germany into some places in the Yukon where they **** there pants and repeatly said "Where is the Runway" "Are you sure about this" When I told them ive done this for 2500 hours at the time, they couldn't understand why I wasnt Captain at AC on an Airbus, they had about 2000 between them only ever flown one type.
I have no doubt I could have trained them to fly in there after a while but in Bad weather "VFR" at 100 ft or less might take a bit of work to teach down in dirty bush flying. Not to mention rolling drums and doing "elementary Maintenance" and god forbid when I pulled the wobble pump out to get gas out of a drum. I don't think they would do it for the money or lack of money I was making at the time
But they sure enjoyed the real flying and being able to circle a moose and take pictures of bears and not have anyone on the radio telling us where to go.