"Foreign physicians' time waiting must be decreased"

Accreditation, permit of residence, language, licensing, specialist training, et cetera.
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Blev medlem: 22 apr 2008, 23:52

"Foreign physicians' time waiting must be decreased"

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Translation of an article in Läkartidningen (roughly "Swedish Journal of Medicine"):
http://www.lakartidningen.se/Aktuellt/N ... te-minska/
Henrik Sjövall, program director at the supplementary education for foreign-educated physicians at Gothenburg University, mentioned at a seminar arranged by the Västra Götaland Regional Council (VGRC) that there is an increasing influx of foreign (non-EU/EEA) physicians.
- We end up having to reject physicians with the highest degrees of competence, motivation and language skill. This is not reasonable. Besides being a waste of competence, many are affected negatively by the long waiting times; you feel like you are being treated poorly by the different authorities.

Earlier this year the Swedish Medical Association (SMA), and other professions' organizations, demanded that efforts were to be made towards reducing the case management waiting times at the National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW). The authority has been granted 19 million SEK by the government but Åsa Wennberg, from the NBHW unit for authorizations and permits, did not agree with the description of the authority as a bottleneck.
- We prioritize applications from those who meet the language requirements. They practically get a decision immediately.

Since progressing in the validation process requires the ability to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the Swedish language, an important part of cutting the waiting time is to quickly begin with language studies. Marina Olsson, director of personell at the VGRC, said that by putting up notes at refugee centers, they found 31 Syrian physicians who were given iPads with internet connection, access to Swedish healthcare literature and 3 hours of teacher-led lectures per week. After eight months, a handful of them had even passed the C1 level of Swedish, which is a very good result according to Marina Olsson.
- We are now in talks with the Swedish Migration Agency about doing a bigger project.

Märta Stenevi, regional council commissioner for the Green party in Skåne, said that they also had started a project including nine physicians and four nurses, having been inspired by the VGRC.
- Currently, you do not get any language training before you have been assigned to a municipality - but now we are going to offer language training even before then. As soon as you reach a certain level of ability, you are offered an internship at our workplaces.

Jonas Ålebring from the SMA emphasised that these projects in Västra Götaland and Skåne are the good examples.
- This is not the state of affairs in the rest of the country, which is why we should consider having the government assume a greater responsibility for this process.

Jonas Andersson, VGRC opposition commissioner for the Liberal People's Party, said that it is a waste of human lives to not be better at putting the abilities of the foreign physicians to better use. He also questioned the reasonability of foreign physicians having to find internships on their own and that the hosting clinic does not get any financial support.
- We have so many different supports on the labour market. A little extra greasing of the wheels would probably make it easier to take someone in.