In Germany, refugee doctors from Ukraine face huge obstacles on the way to employment in their specialty
The problem of the shortage of doctors in Germany is becoming more and more acute, and against this background it seems paradoxical that qualified medical refugees from Ukraine face huge obstacles on the way to employment in their specialty. Germany is already experiencing a significant shortage of doctors, and according to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach’s forecasts, the shortage of doctors will reach 50,000 in the coming years.
This problem becomes especially painful against the background of the fact that since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than 1,600 Ukrainian doctors have arrived in Germany. However, only 187 of them received the right to medical practice. The main reason for such a low percentage of admission is the complicated and bureaucratized process of recognition of foreign medical qualifications. Ukrainian doctors are faced with the need to provide a large number of documents detailing their education, experience and qualifications. The process of recognizing diplomas can take a long time, which is due to the difference in requirements for medical education in Germany and Ukraine.
The fact that each of Germany’s 16 federal states has its own rules regarding the recognition of foreign diplomas causes special difficulties. This means that the procedures can vary greatly depending on the region where the medic wishes to work. Doctors often have to take additional courses or take exams to make up for the difference in curriculum. For many, this becomes a real test, especially for those who received their education decades ago and now have to study basic subjects again.
The financial aspect also adds significant pressure on refugee doctors. Translation and legalization of documents can cost thousands of euros, making the process unaffordable for many. Oleksiy Ukrainskyi, an anesthesiologist from Odesa, who successfully underwent this process in 2016, notes that today this procedure has become much more complicated, and its costs have increased.
At the same time, the German healthcare system faces its own challenges. More and more local doctors are switching to part-time work, and the problem of uneven distribution of medical personnel across regions remains unsolved: there are too many doctors in cities, and there is an acute shortage of them in rural areas. Germany is also experiencing a growing number of aging doctors who are gradually leaving the profession without sufficient replacements.
The trade union Marburger Bund, which represents the interests of German doctors, has repeatedly criticized the system of recognition of foreign diplomas for its complexity and slowness. They call on the government to simplify procedures, reduce bureaucracy, digitize processes more and introduce uniform standards in all federal states. In addition, they emphasize the need to attract additional resources to speed up the processing of documents and improve the efficiency of the process.
Against the background of all these problems, it becomes obvious that Germany has an urgent need to reform the system of recognition of medical qualifications. Instead of limiting the access of qualified refugee doctors to the labor market, it would be worthwhile to create a more unified and transparent system that would allow these doctors to integrate more quickly into the German health care system. This will help solve the problem of staff shortages and ensure access to quality medical services in all regions of the country.
In addition to this situation, it is worth mentioning that many EU countries have already faced similar problems. For example, in Poland and the Czech Republic there is a similar process of recognition of diplomas for foreign doctors, where there are also barriers due to bureaucratic procedures. However, some countries, notably the Netherlands and Denmark, are working to simplify procedures for refugees, and this could set an example for Germany in the future.
Thus, the German health care system has the opportunity to benefit from the influx of qualified specialists from other countries, but for this, quick and effective reforms are needed, which will reduce bureaucratic obstacles and allow refugee doctors to adapt more quickly to new conditions.
