According to statistics from the Dean of Doctors, 80% of newly graduated young doctors leave Tunisia every year, amid urgent calls from professional organizations working in the health sector to find radical solutions to end the bleeding of the emigration of physicians and its effects on quality. public health, medical investments and the future of the health sector.
It should be noted that young doctors are heading mainly towards the European market, where Germany and France are their first destination, followed by the Gulf countries and Canada, according to the latest figures published by the Technical Cooperation Agency in Tunisia.
The official spokesperson for the Association of Tunisian Doctors in the World, Caesar Sassi, a doctor specializing in resuscitation and anesthesia, told Sky News Arabia:
We called on the Dean of Doctors to establish a national dialogue on the health sector in Tunisia in order to put in place incentives to prevent the emigration of doctors from the country and encourage those who left to return to work in Tunisian hospitals. .
The exacerbation of the phenomenon of violence inside hospitals against medical staff, since 200 doctors have suffered physical violence at least once in Tunisian hospitals, in addition to the deterioration of working conditions, the lack of equipment, in particular in public hospitals, and the poor recruitment of doctors, which are among the most important factors that push young doctors to emigrate.
The young doctor called on the authorities to review the legislation regulating the work of Tunisian doctors residing abroad, who are prohibited by law from combining the practice of medicine between Tunisia and their country of residence abroad. , emphasizing that they have acquired important technical skills in the use of modern equipment and equipment which makes it possible to benefit from their services, especially in the regions of the interior which suffer from the lack of medical expertise.
And the official spokesperson for the Association of Tunisian Doctors of the World confirmed that he had started an official correspondence with the authorities to draw attention to the haemorrhage of the emigration of doctors abroad, and to warn of the repercussions of the phenomenon on the future of health. in Tunisia, because a study conducted by the Association, which included a sample of 393 doctors, showed that 70% of doctors emigrated due to poor working conditions and that 50% of them are ready to return to Tunisia in case the rental conditions and the laws regulating the exercise of the profession improve.
César Sassi, an intensive care physician who has worked in France for years, told us that he and his colleagues in Europe are committed to supporting the health sector in Tunisia by providing equipment through organizations or by sharing scientific expertise available in Europe with young doctors in Tunisia, and that they are all concerned about the future of the health sector in Tunisia. .
The doctor explained: “All countries in the world are experiencing a shortage of medical personnel, and here in Europe, countries are accelerating to attract doctors from the Maghreb and African countries and increasing the number of doctors seconded from abroad, including “Germany itself has opened its doors since 2014 to young graduates of medical faculties in Tunisia” directly, and some of them plan immigration even before obtaining their diploma.
For his part, the dentist Youssef Bleish said that the emigration of doctors is not an isolated case, but rather is part of a complete phenomenon, which is the emigration of young people from Tunisia, commenting that the unemployment rate is high in its specialty in dentistry, especially since the costs of opening an equipped and modern dental clinic are very high.
In turn, Dr. Amin Belhaj felt that the thought of the doctor to emigrate is expected due to the long working hours which are not compatible with the salaries of doctors in public hospitals.
Belhaj continued, “Medical decision-making is directly affected by the patient’s poor access to x-rays and advanced scans, which psychologically affects the doctor, making him feel powerless towards the profession, his ethics and his commitment to helping patients in timely. , which pushes him to think about emigration.”
The latest official statistics in Tunisia indicate the emigration of 3,300 doctors over the past five years, at a rate of more than 400 doctors per year, while the number of active doctors in Tunisia is around 8,500, and around 500 doctors graduate each year from medical faculties in Tunisia, most of whom leave to practice abroad.
Experts have been calling for years on the need for Tunisia to protect its health sector for years to come, as more young immigrant doctors are expected in return for the retirement of a significant number of doctors working in the public sector.
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