The bleeding is struggling to be stopped. Over the past ten years, “thousands” doctors trained in Spain have left the country to seek treatment elsewhere, is alarmed The country. The generalist daily does not know the exact extent of this exodus, but it assures that it “continues unabated”.
Health professionals cross borders to find salaries “much higher” (sometimes more than double than in Spain), more stable positions (a third is not across the Pyrenees) and more pleasant working conditions, summarizes the Madrid newspaper. One in three Spanish doctors declared themselves dissatisfied with the exercise of their profession, due to the workload, the level of demand or the emotional load induced, according to a survey carried out by several medical organizations before the pandemic.
To see more clearly, The country indicates that between 2011 and 2021 the Spanish Order of Physicians issued certificates of aptitude to 18,000 Spanish health professionals to practice abroad. This data does not necessarily mean that all are leaving, specifies the newspaper. However, it is added to “increasing number of hundreds of doctors who, every year, study in Spain and go abroad to practice their specialty”.
A shortage estimated at 6,000 general practitioners and pediatricians
In 2021, the destinations “most requested” by Spanish caregivers were France, the UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany in Europe, and Argentina and the United Arab Emirates in the rest of the world.
As a result, a shortage of arms is felt throughout the Spanish health system. There would be a shortage, for example, of 6,000 general practitioners and paediatricians, “especially in rural areas”, reports The country, based on data from the College of Physicians.
Journalist Elisa Silió fears that the problem will worsen in this aging country – the over 65s represent 20% of the Spanish population – if the retirements of 80,000 health professionals are not completely replaced in the next decade.
The central executive and the regional governments (competent in matters of public health) are called upon to act to improve wages and working conditions, claims The country in an editorial published on its website. The daily also recalls that the number of medical faculties has increased over the past fifteen years (from 28 to 46) and that at the start of the next academic year, “1,000 extra seats” should be created in the first cycle of medical studies in Spain.