Abstract
BackgroundA significant number of Lebanese medical graduates have emigrated from Lebanon. The objective of this study was to evaluate the hypothesis that the repatriation of Lebanese physicians educated abroad has contributed to the international emigration of recent Lebanese medical graduates.MethodsWe analyzed the demographic and educational characteristics and the year of registration of physicians registered with the two physician associations in Lebanon as of 2007. We then analyzed the number of new and total registrants and the physician density for the years 1977–2006. Finally we calculated the percentage of Lebanese graduates of the years 1977–2006 registered as of 2007.ResultsAs of 2007, 10,918 physicians were registered in Lebanon. Most were male (80.4%) and graduated from either Lebanese (36.4%) or Eastern European (30.6%) medical schools. The top three regions of specialty training were Western Europe (31.8%), Eastern Europe (28.4%) and Lebanon (25.7%). About half the physicians registered with the Lebanese Order of Physicians as of 2007 joined during the 1990s decade; only 26.2% of these graduated from Lebanese medical schools during that decade. The number of new registrants increased dramatically in the early 1990s and started decreasing in the early 2000s. About 60% of Lebanese medical graduates of the years 1977–2006 were registered in Lebanon as of 2007. Categorizing Lebanese medical graduates by their year of graduation, the percentage registered in Lebanon as of 2007 showed a "dip" for those who graduated in the early 1990s.ConclusionThe high number of physicians educated abroad returning to Lebanon after the end of the civil war may have driven recent Lebanese medical graduates to emigrate.
Highlights
A significant number of Lebanese medical graduates have emigrated from Lebanon
We evaluated the regions of medical school and of specialty training of the members of the Lebanese physician workforce as of 2007, the year of registration of those members, the trends of size of the workforce over the last three decades, and the membership of Lebanese medical graduates in that workforce
The 1990s have witnessed the following concurrent trends: (1) a dramatic increase in the number of new registrants in the early 1990s; (2) about half of the physicians registered with the Lebanese Order of Physicians joined it during the 1990s decade; (3) only a quarter of those who joined the 1990s decade graduated from Lebanese medical schools during that decade; (4) a "dip" in the percentage of Lebanese graduates of the early 1990s registered with the two Orders as of 2007; (5) a "bump" in the number of Lebanese medical graduates registered as residents in the United States (US) in the early 1990s [2]
Summary
A significant number of Lebanese medical graduates have emigrated from Lebanon. The objective of this study was to evaluate the hypothesis that the repatriation of Lebanese physicians educated abroad has contributed to the international emigration of recent Lebanese medical graduates. A qualitative study of the factors underlying the intentions of Lebanese medical students to seek further specialty training abroad identified both push factors in Lebanon and pull factors abroad [3]. Participating medical students believed that training abroad provides them with a competitive advantage in an oversaturated Lebanese physician job market. They thought that Lebanese citizens who had chosen medical studies and/or training abroad and returned to Lebanon after the Lebanese civil war (1975–1990) contributed to an oversaturated physician market in Lebanon
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