The shortage of doctors in Germany is still great. A remedy against this could be doctors from abroad. Their number has already doubled compared to 2013 – but medical representatives warn of problems.
The number of doctors without a German passport is at an all-time high in Germany. At the end of last year there were 63,763 doctors, as the newspapers of the Funke media group reported, citing statistics from the German Medical Association.
Accordingly, the number has doubled compared to 2013 – at that time it was around 30,000. In 1993 there were only around 10,000 foreign doctors.
Most common Countries of origin are Syria and Romania
According to the information, most doctors without a German passport come from EU countries or other European countries as well as from countries in the Middle East. The most common countries of origin are Syria (6,120), Romania (4,668), Austria (2,993), Greece (2,943), Russia (2,941) and Turkey (2,628).
Medical representatives warn Language barriers
The general manager of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Medical Association, Jürgen Hoffart, warned of growing problems caused by foreign colleagues’ poor knowledge of German. There are always life-threatening misunderstandings. The terms chest pain and abdominal pain are confused, causing the doctor to look at the stomach and miss the heart attack.
The problem could get worse in the coming years “because we will have more and more foreign doctors.” One reason is the shortage of doctors, says Hoffart. Because the need for personnel in medicine cannot be met in the future with students in Germany. Of the around 11,000 university graduates in this country every year, a significant proportion do not go into work.