Serbia to employ more medical staff to prevent them from leaving country

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Zlatibor Loncar, Serbia’s Health Minister said on Wednesday Belgrade would fight the brain-drain by employing more medical staff, securing them specialisation and building apartments for them, the Beta news agency reported.

He said that the statements by the opposition that “we don’t take care of our children are populist,” adding the state would show the opposite by new jobs for 600 medical staff.

“Our answer is to employ 100 best medicine students, offer them specialisation and PhD studies,” Loncar told the state RTS TV.

In the third such activity carried out every six months, new jobs wait 300 doctors and the same number of nurses, the Minister said.

“President (Aleksandar Vucic) promised the highest rise in salaries for medical technicians and we will invest in building apartments for the employed in the health sector,” Loncar added.

Last November, estimates were that around 10,000 doctors left Serbia to find work abroad in the past 20 years.

Belgrade’s Politika daily reported that some 800 doctors annually ask for a certificate of good practice, a document necessary for employment in certain countries.

The daily said some countries do not require such certificates at all, and it is assumed that around 400 doctors use them to work in neighbouring countries over weekends, while some 200 go abroad for training.

„In February, the German Medical Chamber confirmed that there are some 460 doctors from Serbia in this country,“ Politika reported in November.