Rome/Riyadh/Dubai – Several famous football players and coaches who said goodbye to their clubs and national teams in order to earn rich salaries in Saudi Arabia or the Gulf states made headlines for most of the summer. However, these sporty VIPs are only the tip of the iceberg. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states in Europe are trying to recruit doctors and nursing staff with high salaries, tax breaks and an all-round carefree package.
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Particularly in Italy, where salaries are low relative to training and requirements and frustration in hospitals is high, especially after the pandemic, the sheikhs’ advertising falls on fertile ground. Above all, the prospect of being able to earn more than three times as much per month in the Gulf – between 7,000 and 20,000 euros – has already prompted hundreds of Italian doctors and nurses to quit their jobs and start a new career in the rich states of the Middle East. This not insignificant bloodletting is aggravating the situation in hospitals, particularly in the northern Italian regions of Veneto, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, which are already plagued by staff shortages.
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Successful football players and coaches like Cristiano Ronaldo or Roberto Mancini, who followed the lure of rich salaries and moved to Saudi Arabia, may dominate the headlines, but since there is a shortage of health workers almost worldwide, doctors, nurses, but also physiotherapists and technicians are becoming Sanitary professions are now almost courted as if they were football stars themselves. Since Saudi Arabia and the neighboring Gulf states will need around 44,000 doctors, 88,000 nurses and other health workers by 2030 due to population growth and the increasing aging of the population, the state health authorities in these countries are prepared to dig very deep into their pockets.
Facebook/King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre
Because salaries in Italy are quite low relative to the medical requirements and workload, it is Italian health workers in particular who give in to the sheikhs’ wooing and agree to return to the Persian Gulf in return for salaries three times higher than in their homeland switch. According to estimates, more than 500 healthcare professionals from Italy and 50 from the rest of Europe – around 250 specialists, 100 general practitioners, 200 nursing staff, as well as physiotherapists, sanitary technicians, pharmacists, podiatrists and dietitians – have been hired by the Saudis or by convince the authorities of the Gulf Emirates to work for them.
“It is a phenomenon that we have been observing for eight years and that unfortunately exacerbates the shortage of medical professionals in Italy. The regions most affected by migration are the northern Italian regions of Veneto, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. Since 85 percent of the emigrated staff worked in the public health sector, this sector in particular is coming under increasing pressure,” explains the president of the Association of Foreign Doctors in Italy, Amsi, and board member of Fnomceo, the federation of medical associations, Foad Aodi.
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“The reasons for moving to the rich states of the Middle East are no secret. While doctors are offered monthly salaries of 14,000 to 20,000 euros, nurses and employees of other health professions can earn up to 7,000 euros per month, depending on their specialization and experience. In addition to a good knowledge of English, the only requirement is that the doctors and nursing staff have at least five and two years of professional experience respectively. In addition, the local authorities provide the required housing and take care of all bureaucratic needs,” continues Foad Aodi.
With an all-round carefree package that includes school education for the children, tax breaks and other non-cash services and benefits – says Foad Aodi – Saudi Arabia’s healthcare system is pursuing the goal of attracting medical professionals and retaining them in the country for many years.
Facebook/Ministry of Health – Saudi Ministry of Health
However, the President of the Association of Foreign Doctors is of the opinion that it is not just about salaries that are twice or three times as high. “In Italian hospitals, the workload is high, the services are frequent and the frustration is great, although the end of the pandemic did not bring any significant improvement in the situation. In addition to the prospect of earning significantly more, many healthcare workers also have a great desire to gain work experience abroad,” says Foad Aodi.
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The Amsi president is deeply concerned. “The flight abroad is exacerbating the shortage of medical professionals, especially public health professionals,” said Foad Aodi.
On the other hand, the decision to work in the healthcare sector in the Gulf States also has its downsides. Since these are not constitutional states in the Western sense, foreigners who commit real or perceived misconduct in their work risk being severely punished. In addition, the cultural difference between Europe and Saudi Arabia should not be underestimated.
Facebook/King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre
However, it is not just migration abroad that is worrying health authorities in northern Italian regions. The fact that doctors and nurses from southern Italy who have been working in the north for years are returning to the south is contributing to further aggravating the situation in the Italian healthcare system. In addition, the health authorities are observing that health care employees – primarily nursing staff – are giving up their health profession altogether and switching to a completely different profession.
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Italian health authorities are at a loss as to how migration abroad can be curbed. Since there is not much scope for higher salaries, there is little more than the possibility of convincing doctors and nurses to stay by streamlining the healthcare system, which is intended to reduce workload for all employees.
But poaching also raises moral questions. The question of whether it is acceptable that rich countries can simply “buy away” doctors and nurses who are trained for expensive money in Italy and other European countries and gain initial professional experience there requires an answer. Many Europeans are calling for strict legal restrictions to be placed on these forms of emigration. “Educate your people yourself,” say these voices who are calling for high barriers to emigration.
From: ka
2023-09-11 06:13:25
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