In recent years, Tunisia has experienced a phenomenon known as “brain drain”. In concrete terms, this brain drain is mainly reflected in the departure of Tunisian doctors abroad. By leaving their country of origin, these doctors take with them not only their talent but also all the training and education they have received, allowing another country to benefit from them.
Instead of moving to the other side of the world to find new professional opportunities, why not create them here?
One of the reasons for this brain drain may be economic, i.e. the opportunities offered to them in their home country are not sufficiently rewarding to allow them to stay.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to identify a common strategy for all countries affected by this phenomenon. Rather, it is up to the government to identify the causes of emigration and put in place policies that enable tomorrow’s talent to find professional opportunities that meet their needs and encourage them to stay in the country. It is therefore up to the government to promote economic dynamism.
Khemaies Zayed, president of the National Union of Doctors in General Practice, announced that 1,325 doctors will leave Tunisia in the course of 2023.
Zayed explained that there were many reasons for this exodus, citing in particular the general climate in which doctors work and denying that the motives were financial.
He added that “preventive suspensions of doctors and the recent death of psychiatrist Mohamed Al-Hajji in a prison in Bizerte are also considered to be among the reasons pushing young doctors to emigrate”.
Nizar Laadhari, secretary-general of the Tunisian National Medical Association, has said that more than 970 Tunisian doctors will have left the country to work abroad by 2021, compared with 570 in 2018.
No specialty doctors in the regions
The very idea of moving to the countryside still discourages many young specialists, who refuse to work in regional hospitals because of the poor working conditions and lack of technical equipment in certain departments.
The paradox is that the country has no shortage of specialists, as its four medical faculties train dozens of them every year. Unfortunately, this extraordinary wealth is unevenly distributed, with almost all of them concentrated in the major cities and coastal regions, while the interior remains deserted or almost so.
It’s true that a lack of resources, repeated attacks on doctors and the absence of a clear vision for the sector are among the obstacles that prevent doctors from working in the interior of the republic. But the legendary hospitality and generosity of the people of these regions can compensate for these difficulties and offer young doctors a unique and rewarding professional and personal experience (…).
