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THE HEALTH WORK FORCE MIGRATION: ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

MIHAELA CRISTINA DRĂGOI^*

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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.