The country is missing 30,000 doctors: Russia is recruiting doctors in Africa – without checking

The country is lacking 30,000 doctors
Russia recruits doctors in Africa – without verification

By Kevin Schulte
May 2, 2024, 11:46 a.m

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Because there is a shortage of doctors in Russia, the Kremlin is recruiting doctors in Africa – without properly checking their qualifications. Even in Russia itself, people now dare to criticize it openly.

Russia is running out of doctors. At the beginning of April, Parliament Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin announced that the country was lacking a total of 30,000 medical professionals. This number has increased by more than ten percent within just six months. A dramatic development that affects the entire country.

To make matters worse, the number of medical professionals will continue to decline over the course of this year. At least that is what the British secret service assumes and gives two reasons for this: Some doctors now prefer to work in the private sector because they can earn more money there. Others left the country because of the war in Ukraine.

The problem is apparently so blatant that even President Vladimir Putin cannot keep quiet about it. Patients would rightly complain about poor conditions, queues for specialists and the lack of them, the Kremlin chief finally admitted. The medical staff, in turn, are dissatisfied with the level of wages and the high workload.

Two percent of all medical professionals in Russia left the country to avoid mobilization for the war in Ukraine, reports the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). Since Russia launched a major mobilization in September 2022 to make up for Ukraine’s horrendous frontline losses, the number of doctors has fallen by 7,500, according to British intelligence. The situation in the district hospitals is particularly dramatic. There is now a lack of 50 percent of the specialist staff here.

Recruitments in Africa

To fill these gaps, Russia has begun recruiting doctors abroad – and has apparently drastically relaxed the requirements for new doctors. According to the CEPA report, the Kremlin recruits doctors from African countries without carefully vetting their suitability. The new employees do not have to provide any proof of qualifications; instead, they only need a self-assessment that their training meets Russian standards.

However, the reports do not reveal how many African doctors are now employed in Russia.

According to the report, the recruitment efforts are focused on countries where Soviet specialists have previously helped in health crises. State television cheerfully reports on success stories – like one Sudanese doctor near Moscow or about an African doctor with a focus on neurosurgery who had already completed his studies in Russia, who “loves the beautiful country” and is in his “Homeland Russia feels great”.

Criticism – even in Russia

What is remarkable, however, is that critical voices on this issue are now increasing in Russia itself. However, not because there is a fear that the foreign doctors could be unqualified. Instead asks a Russian doctor for example, whether an African doctor could understand “the intricacies of the psychology of a Russian grandma.” And the chairman of a patient organization cautions: Can doctors from other cultures “understand and grasp the nuances of the language and mentality” of their Russian patients?

However, it is hardly surprising that the Russians are taking fundamentally new approaches to recruiting medical professionals, given the shortage of doctors. British intelligence says what many think: Russian healthcare is facing a decline in quality because of inadequate qualification tests.

But the country urgently needs staff, as statistics like these show very clearly: In 2023, the number of physically disabled Russian men between the ages of 31 and 59 will have increased by half a million. This corresponds to an increase of 30 percent, never more within a year. The cause of the dramatic development is the war in Ukraine, reports British intelligence.

The wounded men are not only “witnesses to what is happening on the real front,” but are also putting a long-term strain on the resources of the Russian health sector.