“Last year, in Romania graduated 6000 med students. In the same year, 7000 medics decided to leave the country in order to work in countries such as Italy, France, Germany, the UK…†declares the president of WONCA World, Prof. Dr. Richard Roberts.
“Romania has a great number of family doctors that are dedicated and well prepared but are frustrated by the fact current laws don’t give them the chance to do enough for their patientsâ€, said Prof. Dr. Richard Roberts.
Among the doctors that opted for working abroad in the last years is also Dr. Larisa Sava.
Larisa Sava is a young doctor and a young mother of two from Sibiu, Romania, who opted for living and working abroad.
“I was afraid that after graduating medicine and after getting a specialty I would get to work at the boutique shop on the cornerâ€
“Why did I choose to leave Romania? Is one of the simplest questions for me to answer; it was a simple decision to make. I didn’t have to think about it that much. After graduating in 2007 I gazed into the future and there was nothingâ€, said Dr. Larisa Sava, Senior House Officer Pediatrics, Great Britain.
“Six years of med school were hard. Besides the studying I chose to be a mother as well. We struggled financially. In the last year of med school I had to get a part time job as a nurse. One day I had enough and realized that in this country I have no future, no money and no friends in high placesâ€, added Dr. Larisa Sava.
Now Dr. Larisa Sava is working as a medic in a hospital in England in a training position. She chose to become a family doctor, a profession that in Great Britain has a different meaning and responsibility than in Romania. “In Romania everybody that did not have good results in his residency years chose to become a family doctor. Here on the other hand, this career is wanted and competitive. It is the only medical field that requires a preliminary exam.â€
“In conclusion, I don’t regret moving to Britain. It is harder and harder for Romanian doctors to start a career in the UK because access to training positions is limited and without training positions it’s hard to progress. But to be honest even if I would not have made it as a doctor, even as working at a nursing home I would have earned about 1000 pounds per month, and life in Britain would still have been better than in Romaniaâ€, states Dr. Larisa Sava.
My home is England now. I don’t think I will ever go back to Romania!
Source of the article: Medic.ro Magazine nr.77, 9/2011
