Turkey may woo Greek doctors to fill vacancies. (Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu)

Turkey is considering employing foreign doctors in order to fill vacancies in public hospitals, with Greek professionals being one of their main targets, Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu has said.

“We are thinking of employing doctors from Greece and other countries, who we believe would fulfill the needs of our people and who will be accredited by YÖK [the Turkish Higher Education Board] after the related legal regulations have been made,” Müezzinoğlu told journalists during an Eid al-Fitr visit to an Istanbul hospital on July 29.

“We [Turkey] have been increasing the capacity of our medical faculties since 2007, but such efforts will only start yielding results this year,” Müezzinoğlu added.

Turkey needs 20,000 doctors who are specialists and 10,000 general practitioners, the health minister stated.

“Greece has a high surplus in the number of doctors it has… The number of doctors per 10,000 people in Greece stands at 61, while the figure for Turkey is 17,” he said, recalling that Germany signed a deal with Greece last year to hire 15,000 doctors for nine years of employment.

However, the current Turkish regulation does not allow for the employment of foreign doctors in the public sector. ..............http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-may-woo-greek-doctors-to-fill-vacancies.aspx?pageID=238&nID=69804&NewsCatID=373
30/7/14
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Related (27.10.14):

• Turkish Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu: Greek doctors can work in Turkey. -7.000 doctors needed employment in Greece according to the news, and Turkey needs them also (27/10/13)