Doctors leaving Kosovo, better conditions and salaries being offered to Germany

The health system in Kosovo continues to face major problems. One of the disturbing problems is that of leaving staff for European Union countries.

Haxhi Avdyli, neurosurgeon and deputy in the Kosovo Assembly, told Radio Europe free that Kosovo doctors and nurses' departure continues to remain a concern, until, as he put it, there is no strategy for keeping them in the country.

Kosovo in these years has no human resources strategy. There are unemployed doctors and specializations are not well coordinated. A large number are employed at QKUK, and a large number of doctors are missing regional hospitals. All because of poor planning. As a result, we lack doctors and nurses and many of them because of conditions are leaving outside Kosovo, Avdyli said.

According to him, Germany is especially the country that is looking for health workers from Kosovo and the same are leaving because of better conditions and wages there.

Despite that, he stressed, the Government, in the medium-term frame of expenditures, has not seen the increase in the number of health workers until 2020, as Kosovo continues to have unemployed doctors.

This situation gives no hope when this Kosovo Government strategy is known. The current government has no health priority, our hospitals are becoming sick of basic treatment shortages, and the same are leaving for recovery abroad. The priorities would be when the per capita budget increases, Avdyli added.

Even Xhemajl Selmani, chairman of the University Clinical Centre's University Union of Kosovo, in an interview given Radio Free Europe, had said that the average age of doctors in Kosovo has reached over 50, and that according to health professionals, is very disturbing to the fact that many young doctors are leaving Kosovo.

According to him, Kosovo has deficit of health professionals according to the World Health Organisation standards.

In any functional unit within the health service, there are no doctors, nor enough nurses for the head, according to the population number. In all health - serving units, there are deficits, outside KKUK, and there are such positions to close certain clinics because colleagues have retired and there are no new staff”, Selmani had declared.

The Ministry of Health refused to be promoted in terms of whether they have any strategy to stop the departure of doctors from the country, or how the Government of Kosovo has seen the medium-term cost framework reportedly not presuming the increase of the number of health workers until 2020, until Kosovo continues to have unemployed doctors.

Blerim Syla from the International Health Federation said the doctors' escape phenomenon is becoming disturbing. Meanwhile, it points to the fact that some positive moves are being made in the health system recently.

“We, since 2013, have been dealing with this phenomenon. Doctors and nurses are already being officially sought in Germany. And, I'm afraid this will turn into a phenomenon. Recently, only from Yunik 7 doctors have stopped the contract to leave the country, then to Decan 12 doctors, and I think that's a tragedy”.

On the other hand, I can say that there have been some positive moves in the health system, such as the Cardiosurgia Clinic, which is being worked 24 hours, then in Oncology some investments have been made, drug supply has begun to improve, Syla told Radio Free Europe.

The number of doctors who have left Kosovo since the latest research done in Kosovo has been over 400.