Almost 5,000 Romanians work as doctors in Germany, a country in which only the doctors from Syria are more numerous, among the foreigners who work in hospitals. The situation of foreign doctors in Germany has sparked broad debates.
Thousands of Romanian doctors chose to work in Germany. Photo: freepik.com
The number of foreign doctors working in Germany has reached a historical threshold. The latest statistics presented by the German Medical Association (Bundesärztekammer) showed that, at the end of 2023, 63,763 non-German doctors worked in Germany, increasing compared to previous years.
The report published by Thinkeurope.de was widely debated on some social networks in Germany. He indicates that most of the medical professionals born outside Germany, who work in the clinics of this country, come from other states of the European Union, Russia and the Middle East.
Romania, after Syria, in the Foreign Doctors ranking in Germany
Most foreign doctors came from Syria (6.120), the country followed in the ranking of Romania (4,668), Austria (2.993), Greece, Russia and Turkey. Official statistics show that almost one million Syrians and 900,000 Romanians live in Germany.
Although the influx of non-German doctors has contributed to the attenuation of the shortage of doctors in the country, the problem remains significant. In the last decade, the number of foreign doctors in Germany has doubled from 30,000 in 2013, informing the German Medical Association.
“Germany’s recent laws on immigration and introduction of the visa system are aiming to facilitate the entry of qualified professionals from third countries, thus approaching the deficit of medical personnel. However, the German Medical Association of Renania-Palatină emphasizes the importance of ensuring that non-native doctors have excellent German skills to avoid misunderstandings that can endanger life. Currently, doctors who practice in Germany must have a minimum level of Linguistic competence B2 ”according to Bundesärztekammer, quoted in the article.
According to representatives of the association, in Germany in 2023, about 430,000 people worked as doctors, about one every 200 inhabitants.
In the following decades, the number of medical professionals is expected to decrease, some of the reasons being the demographic changes and the fact that many doctors will retire.
Statistics of foreign doctors in Germany. Source: Bundesärztekammer
Also, annually, about 2,000 doctors leave Germany to work in other states, such as Switzerland, Austria and, in a smaller number, France, Spain or even Romania.
The large number of foreign doctors in Germany has aroused controversy, but not because the newcomers would have taken the jobs of the locals.
The demand for good doctors is high, the Germans write on the Reddit platform. In contrast, in such a debate on medical staff, some Romanians and Greeks complained that the specialists are “stolen” by Germany, and the medical systems of their countries suffered from this phenomenon.
“Well, that’s why Romania has problems with good doctors, because they are all in Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway or Canada.”a Romanian believes.
However, some Germans claim that their country should not be hated because they have hired valuable doctors from other states, because it is, first of all, the desire of doctors to come to work here. In addition, Germany experiences the same phenomenon: some of the Germans choose to work under more advantageous conditions outside the country.
“Germany in particular needs doctors in rural areas. There, the population is often older than in cities and patients are distributed in a larger area. There are many patients who cannot reach the office themselves, so the doctor must make a comparative number of home visits. Because there are so many home visits, which means a significantly lower efficiency than the cabinet care, especially for family doctors makes everything so not financially attractive. “says a doctor from Germany.
German language, the condition of integration
The demand for the doctors is high, but the linguistic barrier and the necessary formalities to get a license can be big problems for those who want to work in hospitals in Germany.
“The German language has the reputation of being one of the tougher European languages, because it has maintained a lot of grammatical features that other languages have been abandoned for a long time. Also, there are some sounds in this language that can be difficult to pronounce, depending on the languages you already know ”writes a German.
A young woman from Romania, employed as a dental technician in Germany, felt this. She told that after five years she worked in Romania, she moved to Leipzig and found work easily in a laboratory. He told his boss that he does not know German very well, but only English, but he hired it without thinking. Instead, from the large number of colleagues, he found very few who knew English.
“My colleagues never include me in conversations and the only time it addresses me is when I have to accept an emergency or do something wrong. One was obviously upset that I had to explain (in German) and that I do not understand anything. I have colleagues who have been from other countries, but I have been talking here for many years and I speak German. They behave beautifully with them, so I would not call them racists, but maybe I have no chance that people who do not talk to English will be nice to me as long as they do not speak German. Every day it is very difficult for me because I am most often invisible and, when I am not, I only receive bad vibrations ”he writes.
Some companies are looking for specialists in the medical system, satisfying with candidates with the necessary technical expertise and with the hope that they will acquire linguistic skills while they are at work, another German claims.
“I have a crazy respect for the people who come to work in a foreign place, where I do not speak the language yet, because I know it is very difficult. If you manage to persevere, I think you will benefit enormously. However, you can not expect people to meet a lot of English in Germany. Outside the academic bubble, some people could have studied it at school, but most likely they did not gain much experience in speaking English. For example, English films are doubled on TV here, so we don’t have much practice (as opposed to Scandinavian countries or Holland, for example). The speech of English is very uncomfortable for some people here. You may even feel embarrassed to try ”he believes.
Learning German will bring huge improvements, another German believes.
“Some see the competition in those who suppose they work for less and thus endanger their situation. But it is a lack of qualified personnel in Germany, and once you know the language, either they will relax, or you will always be able to find another job in the same field, in which you do not have seen as “Romanian” and only the new colleague”, he says.
