The president of the Swiss Medical Association has sounded the alarm that Switzerland is training too few doctors and a gap in healthcare is looming. Yvonne Gilli is therefore calling for more study places and modern working conditions for younger doctors.
“Their demand is extremely moderate: a 46-hour week,” Gilli said in an interview with SonntagsBlick.
The framework conditions would also have to be improved in order to keep doctors of retirement age in the profession longer, she said. “Many are highly motivated to continue working until 71 or 72; the medical profession is their vocation. But if the framework conditions continue to deteriorate, they will not take this step.”
The adjustments for the medical profession are necessary because the baby boomer generation is coming into retirement age, she said.
“There is a drama looming,” Gilli warned, since the problem of attracting new doctors cannot be solved overnight. “If we decide now to train significantly more, it will still take another ten years until these people can actually practise their profession. Our goal must therefore be to keep the gap as small as possible.”
25% of Swiss doctors are over 60 and we’re not looking to replace them. This is clearly a looming health crisis approaching Switzerland and I don’t see politicians talking about this. Everyone’s talking about rising health costs and how to stuff more money into the private insurance scheme, but the failure of our health care system because of lacking personnel (nursing staff and doctors) seems even more daunting.