Wars and economic crises have pushed them to emigrate. Arab countries suffer from a shortage of doctors

After wealthy patients from all Arab countries flocked to receive treatment in Lebanon, a country famous for its huge private clinics and hospitals that brought together a team of doctors trained in top European and American universities, these doctors were taking planes to emigrate from it, as the Economist magazine said.

The American magazine quoted one of the surgeons that his salary, paid in Lebanese pounds, is $ 200 a month, which means he is paid less than a dollar an hour, and another doctor said the hospital where he works was destroyed due to the huge explosion in the port of the capital, Beirut. Last August 4th.

In the midst of the deepening economic crisis, nearly 400 Lebanese doctors, or nearly 3% of the total workforce, left last year.

Migration coincides with high infection rates with the emerging coronavirus pandemic, as over 80% of ICU beds in Lebanese hospitals are occupied, resulting in complete closure, and so has Tunisia, which has closed completely the country for fear of its incapacity for another wave of the virus. Especially since 40% of Tunisian doctors enrolled in the Syndicate work abroad.

While there is no global standard for healthcare, the World Health Organization proposes a minimum of 45 doctors and nurses for every 10,000 people, and at least nine Arab countries fall within this standard, according to the magazine.

Egypt has fewer than five doctors for every 10,000 people in 2018, noting that Egyptian universities graduate around 7,000 medical colleges each year (15% more than the US than the population), which means this shortage it is not due to a loss of skills.

Once doctors graduate, many of them are eager to leave their country due to low salaries, as a new doctor in Egypt can earn between 2,000 and 2,500 Egyptian pounds (US $ 128-160) per month. , which is much less than the Egyptian family’s average spending for the month that exceeds Double his salary.

Interestingly, the Egyptian constitution obliged the state in 2014 to spend 3% of annual GDP on health care, but this was ignored as the expenditure did not reach 1.4% of GDP in 2018. three years after the approval of the constitution, it decreased. The number of hospital beds per 10,000 people increased by 8%, from 15.6 to 14.3.

Working conditions in Iraq also push doctors to emigrate, especially after wars destroyed the country’s health system, as there are only 13 beds for every 10,000 people, compared to 22 in Saudi Arabia and 28 in Turkey. .