Prague, June 12 (CTK) – More and more Czech doctors are seeking work abroad, mainly in neighbouring Germany and Austria, but also Britain, while nurses and physiotherapists are most welcome in Saudi Arabia, daily Lidove noviny (LN) writes Friday.
Michal Sojka, from the Czech Doctors’ Chamber (CLK), told LN that 360 experienced doctors and around 200 fresh graduates left abroad last year.
Besides big salaries, foreign hospitals and clinics attract the Czech medical workers by good working conditions and the opportunities to gain new experience, Sojka said.
“In Saudi Arabia, Czech nurses and physiotherapists are welcome even more than elsewhere and they can choose positions,” Simona Rupesova, owner of Eurostaff agency that has focused on the country for 15 years, told LN.
She said Saudi Arabia lacks thousands of nurses and hundreds of doctors. It offers very high salaries, it is easy to gain a residence permit, and Czech medical qualification is fully recognised.
Rupesova said nurses earn between 3,500 to 4,000 dollars a month net. They earn annually more than an equivalent of one million crowns, while they only need two years of practice and a good knowledge of English.
“Compared with a Czech hospital, nurses in Saudi Arabia have much greater competences and responsibility. They examine the patients by themselves, they prescribe the taking of blood samples, they evaluate the results, they present the patients during doctors’ visits. They only call doctors in if the patient’s condition changes or when medicines need to be prescribed,” a nurse who has been employed with the pediatric ward of a hospital in Riyadh, told LN.
Rupesova said the selection of doctors is stricter than of nurses in Saudi Arabia. The country seeks renowned expert who publish their works in specialist journals and who are active in European doctors’ societies. However, the chosen receive top salaries, she added.
Most medical workers stay in Saudi Arabia for two to three years, Rupesova said.
