Izvor: N1 televizija, 27.Jul.2018, 20:12 (ažurirano 02.Apr.2020.)
Massive departure of Serbia’s nurses
According to data from the Nurses’ Union, over a 1,000 female and male nurses leave Serbia for Western countries per year, N1 television reported on Friday.
The reason is not only meagre pay but also the conditions they work in.
“My basic salary is 45,000 dinars a month (some 378 Euros) since I have a university degree. That's all I get. I think that it’s not enough for the work nurses do,” Miroslav Zelic, who spent 24 years in a local medical centre in Serbia’s >> Pročitaj celu vest na sajtu N1 televizija << northern town of Subotica, said.
He is leaving for Ireland in October.
From a nearby town of Vrbas, 25 nurses went abroad last year only, and many more were preparing to do the same.
The numbers of those who have left or are looking for an opportunity to go have become alarming. Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has promised the country’s nurses a pay rise.
“In three, three and a half months at the latest you can expect a significant rise in salaries. And we won’t stop there; we will be increasing your pay to keep you here to take care of our patients.”
Dragica Dasic, from the Union, said it was the eleventh hour for the whole health system in the country since the doctors could not properly do their job without the experienced nurses, while new generations would not have anyone to learn from.
“If that does not happen (an increase in pay), our colleagues, all 50,000 of them will leave for other countries where they are gladly accepted,” she said.
Dasic added that the nurses’ average salary in local medical centres was just under 300 Euros, and a bit higher in hospitals. Many, she said, didn’t see any other solution but to learn foreign languages, mostly German, and get ready to leave.
