Nearly 1,200 doctors and health professionals leave Algeria

The migratory corridor that starts in Algeria, with France as its final destination, continues to consolidate itself as one of the main migration routes on the African continent. Since the hopes for change that arose during the 'Algerian Hirak' - a series of anti-government protests in 2019 that resulted in the departure from power of the then president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika - faded, the displacement and migration of Algerian citizens in search of a better future has picked up again. In recent months, thousands of young people, entire families and even old men and women have embarked in search of better opportunities in Europe. 

This time it has been the turn of health professionals. Nearly 1,200 doctors and nurses have left Algeria after passing the relevant examinations for the recognition of qualifications and verification of knowledge (EVC tests) in France. As Dr Lyes Merabet, president of the Syndicat Autonome des Professionnels de la Santé Publique (SNPSP), explained to the French daily El Watan about the results published earlier this month: of the 1,993 professionals who passed the EVC tests, 1,200 are of Algerian nationality. 

Moreover, doctors and specialists of Tunisian and Moroccan origin were also among those selected, highlighting the dependence of the French health system on staff from the Maghreb region. 

"France has always been the number one destination for Algerian doctors wishing to settle abroad, for several reasons: more infrastructure and facilities, language and training," said Merabet, adding that "French regulations make integration much easier".

Today, an estimated 16,000 Algerian doctors and specialists are practising in the European country, which is causing a real drain of professionals for Algiers. This reality further exacerbates the complicated health situation facing the Maghreb territory. With around 40,000 doctors working in the country's public hospitals and health facilities, the ratio remains at around 1,000 people per professional. These figures are a far cry from those observed in France: approximately 1 doctor for every 300 people. 

In these circumstances, social networks have been flooded with citizens outraged and dissatisfied with a government they have accused of being incapable of guaranteeing the country's stability. Especially in the health sector. In the last two decades, all executive teams have failed to achieve effective health reforms, and although the ministry in charge has been calling itself the "Ministry of Health and Hospital Reform" for almost 20 years, no one seems to know when this restructuring project will reach its goal. 

This mass flight of doctors and health professionals is due, among other things, to the appalling professional and social conditions they are forced to face. Low salaries (ranging from 300 to 600 euros), the deterioration of state hospitals, the lack of human, financial and technical resources, and the prospect of an uncertain future have pushed young doctors beyond Algeria's borders. 

"Algeria prepares and trains doctors who are ready to practice in France," condemned Dr Bekkat Berkani, in an article for the media El Khabar - as quoted by the British media Hello Solar. This continues to highlight the "inability of the ministries of health and education to take care of our young doctors because they are offered nothing, neither adequate salaries nor incentives comparable to those they can benefit from abroad," he added. 

For his part, National Liberation Front (FLN) senator Abdelouaheb Benzaim has been much more forceful: Algeria "should ban the departure" of doctors and specialists from the country. He stated this on his Facebook account, where he argued that this is a "matter of national health security". "It is inconceivable that our hospitals suffer from a cruel lack of specialists, while we export them abroad," Benzaim added. 

Algeria's total population is close to 45 million people, yet more than 6 million Algerians are in diaspora, outside the country's borders. The accumulation of failures by various governments, which have failed to achieve their goals even in the boom years - when the country received nearly $1.5 billion (over $1.3 billion) in oil revenues - as well as political and social deadlock have caused the number of Algerian migrants to double.

For work and professional reasons, more than 2 million people have left the country in the last 20 years, mainly for the European territories of France, Spain and Italy. This continues to increase the government's problems in providing necessary services to the citizenry.