European Policy Analysis
a consequence of the interactions of the main actors in the health structures of both countries , especially in the field of planning the physicians ’ workforce , in connection with the subjective motivations of the physicians .
Regarding the main factors for the migration of Greek physicians to Germany in the context of their medical specialization training , the obvious first point was the limited available vacancies or opportunities in the Greek health system . In parallel to this push factor , the most attractive pull factor for the interviewees was the simplicity of the procedure of finding a vacancy in the German health sector for the medical specialization training , i . e ., the employment system in a hospital and the numerous available vacancies . Furthermore , these dominant subjective factors can only partially verify the statements of the neoclassical economic approaches . The interviewees seem to strongly take into consideration the employment opportunities mainly in the country of origin ( approach of Pissarides and Wadsworth ) and those in the destination country ( approaches of Todaro , Sjaastad , Pissarides , and Wadsworth ), but they do not really take into consideration the income differentiation between the two health sectors . Besides that , and in connection with the neoclassical economic approaches , their personal qualifications are obviously very important for choosing Germany as a destination country , focusing not only on their medical degrees , but also on their German language skills . Also , the existing collegial social networks between the interviewees with the pioneer migrants of this migration case are certainly a very important aspect of this migration phenomenon , which is also likely going to play a key role in the perpetuation of this medical migration flow from Greece to Germany .
However , it appears that the phenomenon is developing new aspects over the years . First , the phenomenon cannot be directly linked with the financial crisis . The statistics indicate that the migration of Greek physicians to Germany was already beginning to be reinforced before the outbreak of the financial crisis . Furthermore , the interviewees confirmed that the waiting lists for medical specialization training in Greek hospitals , before the application of austerity measures in the national health system , were displaying extremely long waiting times 17 — a fact that cannot be verified at present , 6 years after the beginning of crisis . Nevertheless , two interviewees 18 with working experience in the Greek health sector who came to Germany after 2012 , claimed that they suffered from severe shortages of both materials and specialist physicians . Of course this situation has an impact on the working conditions and quality of the medical specialization training period of a young physician . This factor is expected to be further an important push factor for the emigrated physicians , as a consequence of the implemented austerity measures in the Greek health sector during the financial crisis . Consequently , it can be stated that the migration of physicians from Greece is being basically driven by the poor conditions in the national health sector ( unattractive labor market , working conditions , low technological level ). Therefore , possible destinations for them would be states , which provide better
17
In many cases the waiting time affected a time of over 8 years .
18
Interviews with the codes W2 and M3 .
152