I didn't quite understand what do you mean by "wait for the applicant to recover". As far as I know CIC doesn't usually wait for anyone and merely follows its procedured and timeframes set. That is to say that if you are required to provide medical certificate and it reports some health issues, it is completely to CIC officer discretion whether you are considered productive for Canadian economy or not.
(disclamer: I'm not an immigration lawyer or CIC officer, so my knowlegde is based solely on information available from internet sources)
Unfortunalelly, cannot give you more detailed information on this matter. Maybe someone else faced similar problem and can share experience