Public policies on health personnel in countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development brings together 37 countries and its mission is to promote policies that improve economic and social well- being of people around the world
The migration problem in health professionals
The Global Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, adopted by all members of WHO in 2010, encourages countries to improve planning of their health professionals and meet their future needs without relying too heavily on job training in other countries; in particular low-income countries suffering from acute shortages
In 2013-2014, some 460,000 doctors and 570,000 nurses trained abroad working in OECD countries, it accounts for about 17% of all doctors and nurses 6% on average. More than a third of those doctors and nurses trained abroad came from other OECD countries. In many countries, it increased the absolute number of foreign-trained physicians between 2006 and 2013-2014; but the percentage has decreased, to the extent that the number of trained doctors and nurses in their countries grew faster.
United States is by far the main destination of health professionals trained abroad in absolute numbers, with more than 200,000 physicians and 250,000 nurses trained nearly overseas in 2013. However, the influx of doctors and foreign-trained nurses who move to the United States has declined from its peak ten year ago due to the increasing number of national graduates, especially nurses. The main countries of origin of health professionals trained abroad working in the US are India (medical) and the Philippines (for nurses); although new influxes of these countries have declined dramatically in recent years.
The UK is the second main destination, with more than 48,000 doctors and 86,000 nurses trained abroad in 2014. As in the United States, annual influxes of doctors and nurses trained abroad who move to the UK have declined from its peak ten years ago due to the increasing numbers of national students. However, inflows of trained nurses abroad recently rebounded in the UK by an unexpected increase in demand of jobs in the National Health Service (NHS), which can not be met easily from internal sources. In the UK it has significantly changed the composition of doctors trained abroad, with increasing numbers coming from other countries of the European Union, particularly Greece, Italy and Romania, more than in Asia or Africa. Similarly for nurses, the recent rise in the number of trained nurses abroad has been driven mainly by the migration of Spain and Portugal.
Some new countries of the European Union in the north and east of Europe have seen a significant increase of migration of doctors and nurses to other countries in the European Union. In many cases, this outward migration began before they joined the European Union, but immediately accelerated after by reduced obstacles to mobility. That has led countries like the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary and Romania to take measures to reduce the “push” factor, such as improved wage rates and working conditions of doctors and nurses, despite having severe budgetary constraints.
