Health Ministry Head: Moldova Lacks More Than 700 Doctors

Moldova’s medical system lacks more than 700 doctors. In addition, there are more than 1,200 vacancies for medical personnel with secondary education. The shortage of medical workers was reported by Health Minister Ala Nemerenco on Radio Moldova. The Health Minister said that in many districts there was an acute shortage of family doctors, while 18 Moldovan districts did not have a single forensic medical expert. Ala Nemerenco said that the state was working hard to encourage the employment of young specialists in district medical institutions. ‘We need more than 700 doctors. We have nurses and college graduates being distributed right now, and institutions declared 1,200 vacancies that need to be filled. The issue is not a shortage of doctors, but the fact that we have a disproportion, a geographical difference. If we are talking about family doctors, who are the backbone of the system, we are very well supplied in urban areas. In the northern regions, we have almost 100 per cent coverage of family doctors. In Chisinau there are 6.2 family physicians per 10,000 population, and this indicator is almost better than in the European Union, while in some districts there are 2.2 - 2.5 family physicians per 10,000 population. With such a large population, a family physician cannot cope; doctors need to be motivated to go to these districts. The absence of a doctor in a locality is much more expensive for the state than paying the doctor a travel allowance,’ Nemerenco said on Radio Moldova’s “pațiul Public” program. The Health Minister also spoke about the acute shortage of specialists, especially in the field of anesthesia and intensive care, radiology and medical imaging, cardiology, pediatrics. On 13 June, the Parliament approved draft amendments to the Law on Health Care, according to which young specialists in the field of medicine and pharmacology will receive increased allowances and compensations from the state budget.