Is "EU brain drain" a threat to Czech hospitals?
The most recent research points to a new trend in the Czech labor market -doctors are leaving the country to work abroad. With salaries in Western European countries approximately five times higher than the average in the Czech Republic, it is no wonder that the number of applicants for work abroad is on the rise.
Czech doctors are increasingly leaving the country in search of a better life. The entry of the Czech Republic into the European Union on 1 May has only intensified this process. The two most popular destinations are Germany and Great Britain.
Dr. Jan Machac, a member of the Czech Medical Chamber and a doctor at the Faculty Hospital of Prague's Charles University, plans to move to London in September, and currently has no plans to come back. He explains his decision.
"There are several reasons. I won't tell that economic reason is not one of the most important ones, but I have already worked in England for a year, so I have a lot of friends, and I like the life there, it is very friendly."
"I have long-term plans, because I say, I will stay there as long as I am happy there; as it was said by Alex Solzhenitsyn, 'your mother country is not the country where you were born in, but the country you are happy in."
The economic incentive is by no means insignificant. While the average salary of a well-trained specialist in a Czech hospital is about CZK 450,000 per year, or EUR 14,000, Machac claims that the same doctor could earn EUR 100,000 in Germany, or up to EUR 120,000 in Britain.
Flavia Leslie, a senior doctor in Britain's National Health Service, disperses any fears that Czech doctors might be treated unequally, saying that they will be guaranteed equal salaries. She thinks that both sides will benefit.
"They are very welcome here in Britain. The British government wants doctors from abroad to come here because we have a shortage of doctors. I think that it's only natural that doctors and other groups of workers will want to go from a country with relatively low wages to a country with much better pay.
"I think that doctors going abroad can often learn a lot from seeing different practices in different countries, and some of those doctors will go back home again and take with them quite a lot of extra skills and knowledge."
The main difficulty that Czech doctors face when going to work abroad is no longer the technical issue of degree verification.
"I think the language is the biggest barrier. The problem of verification is very easy because it is the matter of mutual recognition around EU."
Estimates show that some 2,000 to 3,000 Czech doctors have already left the country. With the EU accession and the subsequent free movement of labor, it is likely that this number will rapidly increase. Hence, we ask, does such a development put Czech hospitals in danger of "brain drain"?
"I think it is slowly increasing and this number can be very serious. It will be a task for the government. They will have to raise the salaries; they will have to help the doctors get better conditions for their work."
