According to a report released by the Landesärztekammer in Baden Württemberg, if the foreign doctors in that state decided to return to their countries of origin, most if not all hospitals in that State would have to be shut down.
The report that used numbers from 2011, shows that the State has in total 44,917 doctors while 28,355 of those doctors are foreigners, the numbers by continent are:
– Europe: 20855
– Asia: 5043
– Africa: 1369
- Egypt 289
- Ethiopia 34
- Ghana 78
- Cameroon 137
- Nigeria 52
- Libya 492
- Sudan 59
– Australia: 23
– America: 853
– Other: 212
Apparently most of the Germans that studied medicine in that State decided to go into other fields that were better paying than the public service. Some also complained that the Abi grade of 1.0 was too high for most to achieve thus reducing the number of native Germans that applied for medicine courses at the Uni.
The current minister for Education in the state, Annette Schavan said “It is time qualified foreign professionals have their qualifications recognized and no longer have them working as taxi drivers but instead in their qualified field” as she celebrated the new bill that allowed foreign professionals work in Germany. This move by the minister has seen one Saudi Arabian taxi driver a qualified Neurosurgeon in BW who has lived in Germany for over 10yrs invent a communication program at the Freiburg Uni as part of his qualifying exam. Also the number of foreign doctors that were applying to get their qualifications recognized in the state has risen dramatically from a mere 200 in 2009 to more than 700 by September 2012.
The number though are causing headaches to most members in the Ärtzekammer who argue that most of these foreigners apart from the Austrians; have major communication problems with patients. This fact hasn’t been proven by any mishaps between foreign doctors and native patients but it still remains a topic for discussions as they discuss foreign doctors.
