The fact that the salary of a doctor was reduced with 25% last year fuels the ever growing negative feelings that Romanian doctors have for the Romanian healthcare system. A study conducted by the “Solidaritatea Sanitara†Federation underlines the fact that 70% of doctors are considering the possibility of a better medical career abroad.
The specialists believe that the medical migration trend will last for about 20 years from now on, a fact that will bring underprivileged countries an acute lack of quality medical services. The profile of those who leave consists of people between 30-39 years with experience in their medical field.
The official statistics show that, in the present, over 6000 doctors of the 40.000 doctors registered in Romania have already left the country. Among doctors, the number of nurses and other medical staff that have left the country in order to work abroad is about 6.800 of 120.000.
The current numbers show us that a medic should take care of over 647 patients, and a nurse should take care of over 200. If the forecast should turn out to be true, Romania will have about 10.200 doctors for 22 million people, which means that 1 doctor will have in his care over 2000 people.
The migration of the specialists
The main reasons that make the medical migration trend so appealing are first of all the money related ones. The Occident pays better, there is more money for a better life for the family needs.
According to the study conducted by the “Solidaritatea Sanitara†Federation, the percent of those determined to work abroad is about 38%. The proportion of those that consider it is at over 50%, but there are still some hesitations fueled by factors such as age and family. The majority of doctors that want to seek a career abroad are between 30 and 39 years old and have been working as doctors for about 10 years.
“I don’t know not even one case regarding a doctor that came back, because he didn’t manage to accommodate himself from a professional point of viewâ€, declared Vasile Astaratoae, the president of the Romanian Medical College. He added that the medics that leave do not consider coming back: “they will come back only if the political powers will invest heavily in the health system, so that the doctors can practice at a western level their profession, and if their salary will be at least 3 times bigger than the average salary in Romania.†According to the data, the doctors that leaved Romania in 2009 chose to practice in countries such as France, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Germany and Belgium.
The study also shows that 30% of the employees in the medical system have already started to make the procedures needed for working abroad.
Even if this doesn’t mean that all 30% of them will leave to work abroad, the figures are still representing a dangerous trend that will most certainly affect the healthcare system.
67% of the persons on which the study was conducted feel a depression in the healthcare system because of the migration.
One of the reasons that motivates 30,4% of the doctors is the prospect of better wages. The final decision depends in the majority of cases on the solutions regarding the internal reasons such as wages, working conditions, future prospects etc.
