The Association of Tunisian Doctors across the World (French: AMTM) Tuesday called for the launch of a national dialogue in a bid to improve working conditions in hospitals, spokesperson Kaissar Sassi said. The ultimate goal is to stop medical brain drain and encourage Tunisian doctors abroad to return to Tunisia.
Sassi told TAP the AMTM will send a correspondence to this end to the Tunisian Medical Association (French: CNOM).
“The national dialogue will centre around the need to adopt well-defined standards to ensure good working conditions in hospitals, stand firm against violence targeting medical staff and finally review the pay scale,” he added.
There is need to ease procedures to allow Tunisian doctors working abroad to practise in Tunisia as well as in host countries, the spokesperson said.
Under the Tunisian legislation, Tunisian doctors practising abroad and registered with medical associations in host countries are prohibited from practising in Tunisia at a time when the experience they earned would have been beneficial for inland regions with labour shortage in specialised doctors.
The Association conducted a study with a sample size of 393 migrant doctors two years ago, Kaissar Sassi said. Findings showed 70% of doctors migrated because of poor working conditions, 50% suffered workplace bullying and 50% are ready to return to Tunisia in the event of improvements in pay
Sassi cautioned against the dangers of doctor brain drain (3,300 over the past five years according to the National Institute of Statistics), especially as many European countries said they intend to hire more overseas doctors, including from Tunisia.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse