Record number of Bulgarian doctors have emigrated in 2011, it became clear at the conference Doctors and Mobility, held in Sofia. Most of them have just taken their diplomas but number of physicians with experience is growing as well as of those without a specialty and the ones who do not know a foreign language. Most preferred by our doctors is Germany, followed by Britain and France. Less attractive are Northern Ireland, Israel, the U.S. and Canada. Abroad, the most sought after are our anesthesiologists, pathologists and surgeons, and recently an interest has grown in the imaging specialists, psychiatrists, ophthalmologists and specialists in diseases of the ear, nose and throat. Bulgarian doctors go to work in small hospitals in remote areas, although in Bulgaria they have worked in major hospitals in the capital or regional cities.
At the same time, aging of the guild in Bulgaria is alarming. The average age of GPs is 52 years, only 5% of nurses are under 30, and 48.4% are aged between 46 and 60 years. Around 53% of doctors work in hospitals. The trend among younger doctors is to seek career growth outside the realm of practical healthcare – as specialists in pharmaceutical companies, business consultants, experts in health administration and NGOs.
In whole regions lack specialists, family physicians are also reduced in numbers. In some areas of Yambol, Razgrad, Kardzhali and Smolyan there are 10 times fewer doctors than in Sofia and major urban agglomerations Plovdiv and Varna. One third of all practitioners are in the capital, 10 percent in Plovdiv, and another 9 percent in Varna. However, in Kardzhali, Razgrad and Targovishte less than 1% of the doctors in the country are working. Changing jobs within the country goes from smaller settlements to cities, from state and municipal hospitals to private clinics. Doctors at the hospital found their own individual practices.
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