Despite promises to prevent the “brain drain”, this year, 155 doctors have left Kosovo.
In the Medical Chamber, they have indicated that the number of departures is smaller than last year, but they express concern that the situation will worsen in 2024, when visa liberalization is also expected.
“Now we are somewhere around 155, which is a smaller number than last year. Last year, there were over 200, so this year, we have a decrease in this number of requests for the necessary documentation for departure. It may be related to visa liberalization. And we can see that an increase may occur next year, but these are all presumptions that we have to wait for,” representatives from the Chamber declared.
The Medical Chamber has researched the reasons for the departure of healthcare professionals. Until this year, leaving was mainly attributed to low salaries, but when they increased, the reason changed.
“So far, the reason was the salary, if not the first, the second. Now, salaries are in third place, but the main reason still remains unemployment because most are young and unemployed doctors. We have over 550 doctors who are unemployed, and these are the ones looking for jobs, and most of them are leaving. The second reason is the working conditions and the qualitative conditions of specializations because they are all waiting, and then the salary comes”.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Arben Vitia, has spoken about the numerous challenges that healthcare is facing.
Vitia further stated that partial interventions in the past have not been productive, and they have not yielded the desired effect.
“We are determined for an irreversible reform to set standards based on analysis, evidence, so that this process is irreversible,” the Minister said.
He further spoke about the migration of doctors, where, according to him, it is a trend not only in other countries in the region but also in Europe, adding that until the approval of the Salary Law, the departure of doctors is understandable.
“With the Salary Law, healthcare professionals are the ones who have benefited the most, a specialist doctor, based not only on the basic salary but with bonuses and caregiver, rarely does a specialist doctor, especially in secondary and tertiary institutions, have a salary below 2,000 euros,” the Minister clarified.
In just three years, about 400 doctors have left Kosovo.
However, according to official data, the gross (taxed) salary of doctors in Kosovo is 610 euros, while, for example, in Germany, they are paid up to 4,000 euros.
Otherwise, according to the chambers of healthcare professionals, there are 24,092 licensed healthcare workers in Kosovo, of whom 14,966 are women and 9,126 are men.
