Are there too many or too few physicians in Spain? Migration: the eternal resource

Abstract

At the end of the last century, several Spanish doctors had to migrate overseas looking for a decent job. No decent jobs were offered by then in Spain. Last decade, the lack of doctors was a problem and a great social alarm was born. Mechanisms to attract doctors form overseas and medical training, both uncontrolled, were settled in, to get the numbers right. The result was a surplus of qualified health professionals. Today, overseas doctors who were invited to come and native doctors, both, trained for specific health situations have to leave the country. An extraordinary planning never heard of in neighbouring countries due to its “inefficiency”. It was characteristic its lack of capability to take advantage of health professional's abilities – doctors and nurses – its lack of population's health education, its waste of resources in training and its uncontrolled immigration.