Some 40% of the doctors in Moldova left the health system because of the social and economic conditions in the country, acting Minister of Health Andrei Usatyi said when presenting the study “Medical workers in Moldova: reasons why profession is abandoned”. The survey was carried out by the Public Health Management School under the guidance of the World Health Organization Office in Moldova, IPN reports.

The survey shows that among the main causes for the abandonment of the profession by doctor are the low salaries, the insufficiently motivating working conditions, corruption and nepotism, the lack of professional development prospects, the lack of appropriate infrastructure and the unfriendly attitude in institutions. The former medical workers said the profession of doctor would be more attractive if there were possibilities of starting own businesses and opportunities for a new career, attractive pays, safety and a reduced workload.

Thus, 69% of the respondents mentioned the inappropriate remuneration among the factors that made them abandoned the profession. 59.1% of the interviewed doctors would return to work in the health system with a salary of at least 10,000 lei, with improved work conditions and modern medical equipment. 76.7% of the respondents with medical studies would accept a salary of at least 7,000 lei, better working conditions and modern medical equipment. Only 41% of the respondents were determined to become medical workers on graduation and only 7% preserved this optimism when they got employed.

The study recommends working our attractive remuneration mechanisms in healthcare, offering motivating benefits to attract specialists in rural areas, improving the human resources policies in the process of reforming and rationalizing the health system, designing volunteering programs, developing mechanisms for the vocational reorientation of young people and creating professional mobility possibilities.