THE HEALTH WORK FORCE MIGRATION: ECONOMIC AND
SOCIAL EFFECTS
MIHAELA CRISTINA DRĂGOI*
Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Faculty of International Business and Economics, Department of International
Business and Economics, 41 Dacia boulevard, 010404, Bucharest, Romania
*corresponding author: mihaelacristina.dragoi@gmail.com
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Abstract:
The phenomenon of migration of the work force in the medical field has known an increasing development in the past
decade, having both intrinsic (the working conditions in the health care system in Romania, its existent infrastructure and the
health expenditure of the government which places the national health care system among the last in Europe) and extrinsic
determinants (our country’s accession to the European Union and the free movement of persons and services within the
Single Market). Based on available data from some of the most important institutions in Romania (National Institute of
Statistics, Romanian College of Physicians and of Pharmacists) and international organizations (Eurostat, World Health
Organization), this paper analyses these determinants and the implications, both economic and social, that migration of
medical staff has on the national health care system, by emphasizing the costs of such persons’ movement. Although the
resulting analysis cannot turn into an exhaustive one, given the breadth of the current situation, it outlines the main
shortcomings of the Romanian health care system and it provides as results several actions that could take in order to
diminish the loss.

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