No shortage of doctors in Slovakia

Although doctors’ unions have stressed there is a shortage of doctors, Slovakia is close to the EU average in terms of their number, shows RRZ, the fiscal responsibility council. Their numbers have been growing in recent years. Slovak doctors are no longer leaving for Germany and Czechia, and the steep rise in doctors' salaries agreed to by the previous cabinet seems too generous; the money should have gone to nurses' salaries instead. The capacity of medical faculties is more than sufficient, but universities use it mainly to educate foreign students, who pay tuition and on whom the faculties place lower demands. High salaries in hospitals and outpatient clinics keep old doctors in the system and prevent the entry of young ones.

(Mucka)