Public health institutions with a lack of anesthesiologists

In the first six months of this year from the University Clinical Centre, four doctors of anesthesiology who have continued their work in this profession in private hospitals, while five other specialists have fled outside Kosovo. Thus says the director of anesthesiology, Nehat Battiu, that the lack of anesthesiologists has been problematic for years.

“Klinika anesthesiology with intensive care, always needed more anesthesiologists. With the capacities we've had since 2001, a research that has been done has been said to take 75 anesthesiologists. Not even this year, we haven't reached 50, despite increasing the multiple capabilities”, Baftiu said.

He says the Ministry of Health must reach an agreement with doctors so that when specialisations are shared, after their completion, at least five years will be obliged to serve in public health institutions.

There are no special doctors' contracts with the Ministry of Health that would force them to serve the public sector, since they are paid from the state budget. When they finish and learn the foreign language, they flee abroad. Work capacity is increasing every day, until anesthesiologists have remained for the same years, and over and over again, less in number. We've been looking every year for 20 anesthesiologists at”, says Baftiu.

The Ministry of Health has not shared any specialisation for doctors in two years.

Albattri Matosh, media adviser to the minister of health, told Radio Free Europe that there is planning being made about which leaves need more specialists and then announced the corresponding competition.

Before the new competition is announced, there is also becoming a detailed plan of human and professional health resources for the years 2019-2021, which will show where the greatest needs are and how the distribution of new specialisations is to be done.

“Plan is expected to be completed very soon and then specialisation contests will be opened on its base. But specialisations will still take place this year to respond to the demands of health professionals, but also hospitals and clinics, Matosi said.

Meanwhile, Federation of Health Union Chairman Blerim Syla indicated that in cases where it is known to need new specialists in a certain field, there must be ongoing competitions.

I think that the practice of providing non-planned and unnecessary specialisations of cities and regions should be stopped. We have a huge shortage of doctors, especially in the villages. It should be done in co-ordination with municipalities and on the basis of its demographic needs and standards that must be met, given according to those requirements, not at the will of the Health Ministry”.

If necessary, the competition should be announced annually, but if there is no need, it is not mandatory, it is global practice. Some bark, such as anesthesiologists, should have open competition because it needs to. Not expected for years”, Syla said.

Meanwhile, Nehat Baftiu says the Health Ministry should have separate political programmes, in this case for anesthesiologists, in order to stimulate this profile. According to him, anesthesiologists are wanted all over the world, and that is why these doctors, along with nurses and other profiles, are leaving Kosovo for different countries, since the payment to them abroad is much higher than in Kosovo.