Southern Europe rues exodus of doctors, nurses as coronavirus surges

Southern Europe rues exodus of doctors, nurses as coronavirus surges Thirty-year-old Pep Iglesies emigrated to Canada from Spain in August for a new job that is much like his old one – taking care of coronavirus patients and working as a cardiologist. Joan Faus, Angelo Amante U.S.

BARCELONA/ROME (Reuters) - Thirty-year-old Pep Iglesies emigrated to Canada from Spain in August for a new job that is much like his old one – taking care of coronavirus patients and working as a cardiologist.

“I am a big defender of Spain’s health system, but workers there are not treated well enough,” he said, explaining that he had felt professionally thwarted back at home.

Like Iglesies, thousands of doctors and nurses have left Spain in the past decade, exasperated by austerity cuts in the health system and seeking better pay and prospects abroad.

It is a similar story in Italy and Portugal, two other southern European nations that slashed budgets in response to the financial crisis and are paying the price as a second wave of coronavirus hits the continent and puts hospitals under enormous strain.

The pandemic hit Italy and Spain especially hard, with the two countries registering 47,217 and 42,039 deaths respectively. Portugal was largely spared in the spring, but now has record numbers of COVID patients filling intensive care units.

“Coronavirus has made the situation worse because the workload has increased significantly,” said Carlo Palermo, head of Italy’s ANAAO-ASSOMED doctors’ union. ..

Money is a major factor in many moves abroad....

Even before the virus struck, Europe’s southern nations were short of nurses.

In a 2019 report, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said Italy and Spain had just 5.8 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants and Portugal 6.7 compared with 12.9 in Germany and an average of 8.8 amongst major industrialised nations.

The Nurses General Council in Madrid estimates that Spain needs as many as 150,000 nurses to come into line with the European Union average.

Between 2010 and 2019, close to 75,000 Spanish nurses were registered working in nine foreign countries, it said. ...