Doctor Shortages
This post was written by a student. It has not been fact checked or edited.
Doctor shortages are when the number of doctors in a place cannot serve the number of patients in that place, it can be in a community, a state, a country or even a continent.
Doctor shortages are being experienced in many countries of the world and some causes of doctor shortages are listed below.
Many graduating doctors prefer to go into other fields, and older doctors are retiring with no one to replace them because other fields, such as technology, pay better.
The available doctors are overworked because the number of doctors available is less than the number of patients available, so they easily break down and need to take breaks or they will fall sick. They are also overworked because they need to make money, so they work in multiple hospitals at the same time.
Doctors are hardly found in rural areas as they prefer to be in the cities because of the better quality of life as the cities have more basic social amenities than rural areas.
Doctors are paid poorly even with the so much work they do so they go to countries where they are paid better and have more health hazard benefits.
In cases of natural disasters, the doctors are usually overwhelmed by the number of patients to be treated so there are always doctor shortages during natural disasters.
The cost of medical school is usually very high so many people cannot afford to study to become doctors it makes doctors scarce and when some even study to become doctors, they do not have government organisations that can employ them immediately after graduation from medical schools.
Many young doctors want to be general practitioners rather than specialists because it is more expensive and time-consuming, and general practitioners, particularly family practitioners, are in higher demand than specialists.
Many doctors migrate to countries where they are better compensated and have a higher standard of living, particularly from Africa to Europe.
To address the issues listed above, the government, private organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are needed to help fund hospitals, including medical schools, because we must remember that healthcare delays are health denied, and when this occurs, people suffer, particularly the low-income population. With the advancement of technology, another solution to consider is the concept of telemedicine, which will help reduce the burden on overworked doctors.