Germany calls on migrants to fill in healthcare staff shortage
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In a very pungent twist of fate, the Eastern Germany State of Saxony, which in recent years has harboured a spike in far-right and anti-Islamic support, is leading calls to recruit migrant healthcare professionals.
While Germany has been leading the European fight against the coronavirus pandemic, particularly by increasing the number of intensive care beds from about 24,000 to 40,000, shortage of healthcare professionals is putting pressure on the health services throughout the country.
As doctors and nurses continue to combat the spread of the virus on the frontline, an increasing number of them has fallen ill or had to be quarantined after being in contact with positive patients. For this reason, Germany’s authorities are appealing to medically qualified migrants to assist in tackling the virus.
In parallel, the authorities are re-training staff and cancelling non-essential operations. However, the health system still needs many more human resources to care for patients, carry out an increased level of testing and carry out the necessary contact tracing. According to the Robert Koch institute, 2,300 doctors are off sick or in quarantine.
Saxony is one of the main states calling for foreign doctors, particularly among the thousands of refugees who arrived in 2015. A Facebook group created by Syrian doctors estimated that around 14,000 of them are waiting for their qualifications to be approved.
A spokesperson for the medical association in Leipzig, the capital of Saxony, said that “We are keen for anyone to get in touch who is in a position to help. It could be someone who does not yet have their medical licence, but is on their way to getting it.
While Saxony, which is home to around 4 million people, has only reported 4,000 confirmed cases, less than most other states around the country, concern was growing bigger in the past few days. The “irony” of Saxony’s appeals for migrant workers has not been missed by the international press, who recalled that the region has witnessed strong increased support to far-right and anti-Islamic movements in the past few years, particularly following Angela Merkel’s decision to open the doors to almost 1 million refugees in 2015.
