Many doctors in Germany come from abroad. The current debate about migration in Germany is also leaving its mark on them.
Tuesday morning in the emergency room at the Stuttgart Clinic. Saaid Ajmman examines a three-year-old boy who is scheduled for surgery. He has a buildup of water in his middle ear. To restore ventilation, a small incision must be made in the eardrum. A routine procedure, says the 29-year-old doctor.
After studying medicine in Damascus and Tübingen, Ajmman began his specialist training as an ear, nose and throat doctor at the Stuttgart Clinic one and a half years ago. “Children come to us from all over Germany,” explains the future specialist, “because we are a specialized center for airway stenosis, i.e. narrowing of the trachea, and we also treat complicated procedures.”
Medicine has always been his dream job, says Ajmman. On the one hand, the developments in the medical field are fascinating, but above all he enjoys dealing with people. There is nothing better than offering people “a healthier life, relieving pain or curing illness. That is a very satisfying feeling.”
Saaid Ajmmann with a 14-month-old patient and her parents
In addition to children, Ajmman and the ENT team also look after adults. A 78-year-old man has an abscess the size of an egg on his neck. The young doctor from Syria informs the patient about the operation and tries to calm him down. “We check how you are doing every day. If something should happen, please let us know. We’ll take care of you.”
15 percent of doctors have a non-German passport
Like Ajmman, many of the doctors working in Germany come from abroad. Around 200 doctors at the Stuttgart Clinic have a non-German passport. “This corresponds to the national average,” explains doctor Jan Steffen Jürgensen, board member of the Stuttgart Clinic.
Of the 428,000 working doctors in Germany, almost 15 percent come from another country, according to current statistics from the German Medical Association. The trend is increasing. These include doctors from refugee regions; 6,000 doctors from Syria alone work in Germany.
“Of course we cannot do without 15 percent of highly qualified specialists at the Stuttgart Clinic,” continued Jürgensen. He is hearing about dissatisfaction, especially in the southwest, because there are difficulties in finding a doctor or specialist, especially in rural areas. “We have a demographic change, a generational change is in full swing and we have a problem with young talent. Added to this is the demand for more qualifications and study places and in this respect we not only cannot do without, we basically need more,” said Jürgensen.
The clinic has signed the Diversity Charter
The Stuttgart Clinic has signed the Diversity Charter. People from around 100 nations work there in the nursing sector and in the medical profession. “We are happy about the cultural, linguistic and social competence that we have.” In addition to the high level of technical expertise, this is a huge contribution to understanding patients and being able to provide them with adequate care. “Abandoning them would mean dramatic restrictions.”
Discriminatory Experiences in everyday life
After graduating from high school, Ajmman began his studies in the Syrian capital Damascus. In 2014, the civil war in Syria was raging into its third year. His parents feared for their son’s life and his future. They decided that the then 18-year-old should continue his studies in Germany. “They were very afraid that the situation would get worse for us, especially after the sanctions.” Almost nothing was imported into Syria anymore. In the medical sector, too, more and more materials from abroad were missing or were only made available to a limited extent. “Of course that also played a role,” said Ajmman.
Saaid Ajmann with his parents
Saying goodbye to his parents, relatives and friends was hard. Because he came to a land that was foreign to him. “For me, the language was the biggest barrier, but it developed quite well over the course of time,” says Ajmman. He feels comfortable in the clinic, the work in the team works well and the patients are always very grateful. “I feel in good hands there,” says Ajmman.
But he has had discriminatory experiences several times in his private life. Not only once was he denied entry to a club by a bouncer. “At one point I even heard, ‘I’m not a racist, but dark-skinned people and Arabs cause trouble when they walk in’. That actually happened.”
Second home Germany
Ajmman wants to stay in Germany and applied for naturalization two months ago because after ten years he feels at home in Germany. But he is bothered by the way migrants and refugees are currently being talked about. That annoys him: “Unfortunately, the image of the Syrian population has been greatly affected by recent events. Just because a few people have done something doesn’t mean that the entire group is like that.”
Ajmman wants to build a future for himself in Germany, at least as long as the climate against people of other origins, beliefs and appearances does not deteriorate further. He sees no prospects in civil war-torn Syria, even though he longs for his family. “The home remains the home. You can’t change that. It will always stay that way, but I think that if you feel at home and have a chance to build a future for yourself, then you can also enter the second country “You can have two homes, not just one.”