Prague, April 17 (CTK) – The outflow of Czech doctors who have decided to leave for better conditions to Germany has not stopped as their number working in the German health care system crossed 1,000 at the end of last year, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) has written.
Four years ago, “only” 762 Czech doctors worked in Germany, MfD writes, quoting the figures released by the German Doctors’ Chamber.
Over 600 of them found jobs directly in hospitals, it adds.
The statistical data show that the Czech diaspora in the German health system has been growing by about 100 people a year, MfD writes.
“The number of the leaving doctors has been all but constant. It is not decreasing,” Michal Sojka, spokesman for the Czech Doctors’ Chamber (CLK), has said, confirming the cited figures.
Higher salaries, a better system of education and smaller red-tape are the main reasons for the brain drain, MfD writes.
“Perhaps the general atmosphere may play a role, too,” Sojka said.
For many doctors, geographical proximity of Germany, a richer nation, is the basic reason.
Many of the Czech doctors do not move, but only commute to Germany from their places of residence in the borderland. This is why the local regions suffer from the biggest shortage of necessary medical professionals in the Czech Republic, MfD writes.
The data of the German Doctors’ Chamber reveal that although Czechs have it the closest to Germany, they do not constitute the strongest group of foreign doctors in its hospitals and clinics.
Last year, the number of doctors from Romania was four times higher than that of Czechs and that from Syria was twice as big.
In addition, the number of Slovak doctors was 100 higher than that of Czechs there, MfD writes.
A recent poll conducted by the HealthCare Institute has shown that after finishing their studies, 28 percent of Czech medical students want to work abroad, it adds.
Roughly one-half of them are interested in a job in Germany, while the figure was the astonishing 61 percent among the students of the last academic year, MfD writes.
Although it may seem that young people account for most of the doctors ready to go to Germany, it is not true, MfD writes.
“It is about fifty fifty,” Sojka said.
Young people tend to leave entirely the Czech Republic, while older doctors commute to Germany more often, he added.
In March, the CLK warned that the Czech health care system lacked money, skilled personnel and good legislation, MfD writes.
This is why it called on the government to started drafting a plan for its rescue, it adds.
Health Minister Svatopluk Nemecek (Social Democrats, CSSD) has said the government has decided to increase the doctors’ salaries.
As of 2017, almost 10 billion crowns more are to be spent on the health care, MfD writes.
However, Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) rejects another flow of money to the health care from the state coffers.
Sojka said increased salaries were not the only way with which to slow down the doctors’ departures abroad.
The law on doctors’ education should be changed. The amendment is already being drafted by the Health Ministry. Thanks to the novelty, doctors are to be able to enter the practice sooner than under the existing rules.
