There are more and more foreign doctors in the Czech Republic, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to pass the exam sieve
Can Czech medicine, in conditions of a staff shortage, afford to discard doctors, or does it make sense to retrain foreigners on the spot? As Radio Prague notes, the chairman of the Medical Chamber believes that such a game is worth the candle.
Why in 2008 did 60% of applicants successfully pass the exams, but today only 20-30% of foreigners confirm their professional competence? The director of the Institute for Postgraduate Medical Education, Antonin Malina, believes that simply less qualified specialists are coming to the country today. "In the early years, the success rate of recertification was higher, probably because applicants for medical vacancies were better prepared."
At the same time, the shortage of medical personnel has remained the main nightmare of Czech healthcare for years: generations from the Czechoslovak era are retiring, the average age of a Czech medic exceeds 50, and graduates of Czech medical universities are finding jobs in the West. So it is not surprising that specialists from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus are taking their places. If ten years ago about 200 medics from these countries worked in the Czech Republic, today there are more than 1,650.
The shortage of doctors, especially in hospitals on the outskirts of the country, became so great that until mid-last year, taking advantage of a loophole in the law, Ukrainian doctors were hired even without any additional exams. Under pressure from the Medical Chamber, the Czech government stopped this practice, and today all doctors from non-EU countries must undergo so-called approbation – passing tests, which fewer and fewer applicants manage to do.
"In Russia, they ask more questions about theoretical knowledge, and I did not expect that they would not ask about theory here. We just have to know what a patient comes to an outpatient center with, what complications they have, what is found during examination, what our further actions with the patient should be," explained a doctor from Russia, who successfully passed the approbation but asked not to be named, in an interview with Czech Radio.
A specialist trained abroad must first apply for recognition of their diploma by a Czech university. If the answer is positive, their work will be supervised by an experienced doctor for six months. "Such a person can only work under the conditions of so-called 'professional practice,' as medical students do in their sixth year, under the full supervision of a qualified doctor," says the president of the Czech Medical Chamber, Milan Kubek.
After a six-month internship, the applicant takes written tests and passes an oral exam. All tests are conducted in Czech. "The oral exam is taken by a commission appointed by the Ministry of Health, which must include a representative of the ministry. The first thing the examiners start with is the so-called case study; the applicant must bring five such examples. From these, commission members usually choose one and ask questions about it," explains Antonin Malina.
As the specialist explains, during such testing, they try to get the applicant talking to determine their level through additional questions. It often turns out that the potential specialist has insufficient knowledge to work in the Czech Republic. As a result, only about a third of those ready to join the Czech healthcare system actually get the opportunity.
Can Czech medicine, given the lack of the required number of doctors, afford to discard personnel – even if they fully meet all the requirements of the Ministry of Health? The president of the Czech Medical Chamber, Milan Kubek, believes that the procedure for admitting specialists from abroad should change. "We need to make a decision – select a hundred people, allocate money for this, invite applicants to the Czech Republic, provide housing," the president believes.
According to Milan Kubek, in the first year, medics should focus only on intensive learning of the Czech language. Their expenses for staying in the Czech Republic would be covered by a scholarship provided by the Czech side. For those who master the language, it makes sense to work on improving their qualifications, because growing a specialist 'from scratch' is much more difficult, Kubek believes. And if a doctor has been practicing for twenty years, they may have forgotten the theory, but their qualifications can be brought up to the required level, the head of the Czech Medical Chamber believes.
The Ministry of Health has already changed some rules for conducting approbation, but the level of difficulty will remain the same, explains press service employee Renata Povolná. The oral exam will be divided into two days, which will give candidates more chances, and successfully passed tests will be valid for 30 days, Povolná explains.
Today, more than 3,200 doctors who studied abroad, both in EU countries and outside it, work in the country. Most often, such medics have diplomas obtained in Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, and Belarus. According to the Medical Chamber, the Czech Republic currently lacks about 3,000 doctors.