Translation of the article linked above...
Corren skrev:Swedish healthcare has for many years been completely dependent on foreign medical graduates. At the county council's educational reception in Skäggetorp, 60 foreign physicians have been delivered into the Swedish healthcare. 50 of them now work at the county council of Östergötland.
For many of the foreign medical graduates, the path into the Swedish healthcare is long - it is not uncommon that it takes 4-5 years before they can start working. For the gynecologist Dilbar Osmonova from Kyrgyzstan, it took 12 years but now she has finally reached her goal. At the beginning of this new year, she begins her medical residency program at the healthcare clinic in Skäggetorp.
- I came to Sweden as an asylum seeker in 2002 but it took 4 years before I got a residence permit for staying in Sweden, so already at that point I had lost a lot of time.
At that time, she was living in Stockholm and working several jobs.
- I worked as cleaner, in a restaurant, in home assistance and as a personal care assistant. All the time, I was looking for ways to get a trial position as a gynecologist.
- At the Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) they were completely unable to understand me when I said that I had a medical degree and wanted to work as a physician in Sweden. "You already have a job", they said. I am very dissatisfied with them not providing me with any assistance, Dilbar continues.
Eventually she was advised to abandon her plans for returning to gynecology and instead go for becoming a general practitioner specialist (allmänmedicin), as that would offer her better chances of getting a trial position. In April she arrived at the educational reception in Skäggetorp where she spent 6 months serving patients, all the time under the tutilage of an experienced physician. When the trial position was completed, the physicians at the educational reception judged that her medical knowledge from Kyrgyzstan and her Swedish language skills were good enough for working in Sweden.
The educational reception is an integrated part of the healthcare clinic in Skäggetorp and Dilba liked it so much that she decided to stay.
- I have had a temporary job here at the healthcare clinic for a few months and at the beginning of 2015 I begin my ongoing employment as a resident (ST-läkare). Now I am working on improving my Swedish grammar, after learning Swedish from talking to friends and colleagues at different workplaces, says Dilbar Osmonova.
Over half of the medical licenses awarded by the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) go to physicians educated abroad. Some are Swedish-born persons who decided to study abroad but the majority are foreign-born physicians wanting to come to Sweden for work.
Many of them are EU citizens, coming from countries like Greece and Romania. Their medical licenses are valid in Sweden but many need an introduction to Swedish healthcare and therefore compete a 6-month training program. For physicians educated outside of the EU, the path is longer and they must complete a trial employment where their medical knowledge is evaluated.
- It is a difficult and important task. 30 % of the foreign physicians fail the trial employment, says Göran Sommansson, supervisor at the educational center of general medicine (AMC).
All of the physicians also need to learn the Swedish language at a sufficient level to be able to handle patient contacts and paperwork.
- Many study at SFI (Svenska För Invandrare, "Swedish For Immigrants") but many regard that language training as being of poor quality and therefore instead buy private lessons. Considering how important the foreign-born physicians are for the county council, more should be done for them. They should be offered a good education in "healthcare Swedish", says Göran Sommansson.
Skäggetorp is a special area, with 70 % foreign-born patients and illness being quite common. When the educational reception started in 2008, the Skäggetorp healthcare clinic was completely dependent on renting physicians from companies. Today, all positions have been filled - by foreign-born physicians.
