Doctor shortage prompts EU Commission to explore faster recognition of professional qualifications

Brussels – The European Union is facing a shortage of doctors, and the overly fragmented and cumbersome system for recognising qualifications is exacerbating an increasingly structural problem that the European Commission is beginning to address. The EU executive, the Executive Vice-President for Skills and Quality Jobs, Roxana Minzatu, admits “the Commission is considering measures — including through digitalisation — to modernise procedures for recognition of qualifications to access regulated professions, including medical professions.“

The issue of the recognition of professional qualifications is not new, which is why the EU Court of Auditors has called for decisive action to enable a truly functioning single market. Now, MEP Jan Farský (EPP) is raising the issue again with his parliamentary question on the shortage of doctors and medical staff. “Lengthy recognition procedures, fragmented national systems, and slow access to postgraduate education and certification continue to delay the integration of qualified doctors into EU healthcare systems,” the EPP representative said. This situation “creates structural barriers to workforce mobility and limits the EU’s capacity to respond to healthcare staff shortages in a timely and coordinated manner.”

The shortage of doctors and medical staff is not a new issue either. The European Parliament’s think tank estimated a shortfall of 1.2 million doctors, nurses, and midwives across the EU. These figures need to be revised upwards, as they are based on 2022 data and relate to a situation that has not changed since then. This is because the situation in wards and departments is exacerbated by the ageing population, “which affects both patients and healthcare staff (over a third of doctors and a quarter of nurses are over 55).”

https://www.eunews.it/2021/02/26/invecchiamento-demografico-allue-servono-11-milioni-operatori-socio-sanitari-piu-entro-2030/

Pending regulatory updates that will allow for the recognition of academic qualifications and specialist courses at the EU level, the von der Leyen team is working on stopgap solutions. “The Commission explores various policy initiatives to attract and retain doctors, including from outside the EU, to mitigate the shortages on the labour market,” Minzatu said. Emergency solutions to respond to the emergency.

After all, the Commission has little power under the Treaties. Health and healthcare are and remain the exclusive competence of the Member States, and, therefore, as Minzatu points out, “the recruitment and professional integration of doctors and ensuring access to postgraduate training and specialisation pathways remain responsibility of Member States.” The EU must act within the scope of its own prerogatives, and this is what this Commission intends to do. “The objective of the Commission initiatives is to remove administrative barriers for the fair mobility of doctors while safeguarding public health objectives.” In this regard, the von der Leyen team “is exploring potential measures to accelerate recognition procedures for doctors.” These measures, Minzatu adds without offering any previews or details, fall within the scope of the Skills portability, action 2, which the Commission intends to present in the third quarter of this year, i.e., between July and September.

English version by the Translation Service of Withub

Doctor shortage prompts EU Commission to explore faster recognition of professional qualifications

Minzatu says proposals will be put forward as part of the skills portability initiative. Policies to attract non-EU specialist staff are also under consideration

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