Sarajevo left by 33 doctors in 2024: 'Young doctors are leaving, they have no stomach for this kind of government'

(Patria) - Twenty-five doctors in Sarajevo Canton have requested a certificate for work abroad from the cantonal medical chamber this year, along with eight students from a private medical faculty who, after completing their studies, did not even try to find a job in BiH, reports Faktor.ba.

The Medical Chamber of Sarajevo Canton notes that similar data were recorded last year, indicating that the trend of doctors leaving BiH is slowly stabilizing, given that a few years ago, up to a hundred doctors from Sarajevo Canton alone annually requested disassociation from the chamber for the purpose of leaving the country.

The new president of the Medical Chamber of the Federation of BiH, Dr. Rifat Rijad Zaid, says that cantonal chambers keep records of doctors leaving, but the problem is that the exact number of doctors who have just graduated and left the Federation is unknown, and that number, as he points out, is not negligible.

- Young doctors do not join their respective chambers, but practically immediately after faculty, they go to work abroad - adds Zaid.

There are three reasons for doctors leaving, and they are, Zaid adds, more or less known to everyone. First and foremost is the financial status, i.e., the significantly higher salaries offered to them in EU countries, then the opportunity for education, i.e., specialization for young doctors, and the general situation in the country.

- When it comes to income, Montenegro has recently rapidly increased doctors' salaries to stop their departure. Now, their doctors' salaries are significantly higher than those of their colleagues in the Federation of BiH, roughly by 30 to 50 percent.

Croatian doctors have twice the salaries of ours, in Slovenia the difference is 150 percent, and in Austria and Germany, incomes are two, and in some places up to five times higher than those of doctors in the Federation of BiH.

Fluctuation of medical staff is inevitable, but we must fulfill at least the first two reasons for their departure, namely financial status and education - emphasizes Zaid.

He also commented on specializations, which, as he says, in previous years, especially in Sarajevo Canton, were quite sloppy.

- Now that is changing significantly, so we have a situation where just one healthcare institution received more than a hundred specializations this year.

When it comes to the third reason, young doctors, who are offered a better life in every sense in EU countries or further, do not think too much, but choose the nicer, more stable option. They simply have no stomach for this country and these people who lead us - emphasizes Zaid.

Regarding the plans of the Medical Chamber of the Federation of BiH, he says they will request that the first meeting be with the federal Minister of Health.

- Huge changes are needed in the healthcare system of the Federation of BiH, and we must start working on them. I sincerely hope that on the other side we will find adequate interlocutors with whom we can work on improving the healthcare system in the Federation of BiH, which is not in good shape.

Something similar has already been initiated in Sarajevo Canton with a proposal prepared by the Medical Chamber of Sarajevo Canton - the reorganization of the healthcare system. It was published at the beginning of 2024 on 136 pages and, as far as I have information, the final proposal of the Ministry of Health of Sarajevo Canton, which is based on our proposal and will go for adoption in the Assembly of Sarajevo Canton, is nearing completion - states Zaid.

He also emphasizes that the healthcare system of the Federation of BiH is full of illogicalities and problems, starting from the network of hospital healthcare institutions, which has never been realized, to the fact that some patients are more valuable than others.

- There is also the problem of patient accessibility, in that when a patient from one canton needs to receive healthcare services in another canton, such problems arise as if the person is changing continents.

These are illogicalities that we must change as soon as possible, and the Federal Medical Chamber will be the initiator of these changes, which must happen already at the very beginning of next year - said Zaid.