In Tunisia, the health sector is worried about its future. More and more young medical graduates are leaving the country for France, Germany, or the Gulf States, where they are offered better working conditions.
The precariousness of young doctors
In a country plagued by an economic crisis and corruption, young Tunisian doctors regret that their skills are not recognized at their fair value, at a time when the need for nursing staff is particularly important.
Abdelwaheb Mghirbi is an emergency doctor in a public hospital in Tunis. He denounces the lack of human and material resources and demands a decent salary. An internal doctor would receive on average 1,200 dinars or 365 euros per month.
” I’m trying to go abroad, because the general situation in Tunisia is not stable economically, socially, and politically. Currently, the country can pay salaries, but in six months, a year, we don’t know. I was offered a job in a Gulf country with a salary ten times higher than a salary in Tunisia. Resources in the field of health are developing strongly in the Gulf. “
80% of departures among young graduates
In recent years, the exodus of young doctors graduates – all disciplines combined – has accelerated, which worries Dr. Slim Ben Salah, president of the National Council of the Order of Physicians of Tunisia.
“Already in 2018, we were not far from the starting 60%. And at the end of 2020, we are not far from the 80% of young graduates who are leaving. The public authorities are doing with the means they have. They have no means. The health budget is barely 6% of the GDP. It has decreased. “
Symbol of the malaise of doctors, this demonstration last December following the death of a young surgeon in an elevator accident at the hospital. A drama which had highlighted the failures of the Tunisian health system.
