“A doctor leaves the country every five hours”

Abstract

The international migration of professionals has become an increasingly important issue in this era of globalisation. Governmental policies related to international migration and the labour force have a varying impact depending on the nation in question. The international flow of health workers deserves a special focus due to their dwindling numbers in Hungary and Romania, a phenomenon which is in turn related to the economic achievements of a country (or the countries from where replacements are recruited).

Some institutions have demanded to plan for the management of human resources, but there was an obstacle in the lack of data. The EU tries to estimate the number of migrants in its member states through research projects. The research presented here aims to contribute to this work, although it covers only a small fraction of it. It examines the migration potential among Transylvanian-Hungarian students graduating in medicine, dentistry, pharmacology and nursing at the University of Medicine and Pharmacology of Tîrgu-Mureș, Romania. Using a selfcompletion questionnaire, the push and pull factors that affect decision-making, preferred countries of destination and the effects of migrant networks are explored.

This article presents, briefly, the theoretical background and the methodology. It then examines the factors affecting migration potential in three categories: socio-demographic, cultural capital (foreign language knowledge), and social capital (migrant network) and psychological factors (attitudes). It also reviews the proportion of a refined migration potential, as well as obstacles to moving and obligations causing those questioned to stay.

The migration potential among these students is high compared to that of the overall adult Transylvanian-Hungarian population and similar to the 17–30-year age bracket of young Transylvanian-Hungarians (about 60%). The effects of socio-demographic factors are less significant due to the selected, homogeneous nature of the sample. The intention of migration is strengthened by migrant networks, particularly migrant friends, a pessimistic outlook on the future, and general dissatisfaction. Family responsibilities and love of country are the primary determinants for not migrating. The refined migration potential is also high: Two-thirds of students who intend to migrate (about 40 percent of the total student sample) have already taken steps in order to implement their migration plans. These include mainly gathering information from acquaintances and/or the internet and browsing job advertisements.

The main countries of destination are Germany, Great Britain, Hungary and Sweden. Hungary has been one of the most important countries of destination for Hungarian doctors in Transylvania because of historical links as well as cultural and linguistic similarities. The policies of the EU ensure the free movement of people across member states and recognition of medical diplomas acquired in any of them. They facilitate the trend of potential migrants actually moving to Western-European countries where the remuneration of their skills is much higher.

To better understand their thoughts about migration – their motivations, expected gains and disadvantages – and the role of ethnicity, some of these students were interviewed. Some results of this research were published in a separate article in another journal.