Let us be the witnesses of the departure trend that is appalling, stated the Secretary-General of the Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro Srdjan Kekovic. He says that this problem is increasingly more present. "We are going towards joining the EU, which means that borders will be opened, which will be a huge problem for Montenegro. We need a natural outflow to let people go to pension and open new jobs, to reduce the retirement margins because otherwise, people are leaving us, especially creative ones. We remain without staff. Young people cannot form a family, they cannot get employed. The birth rate is decreasing. We have to deal with this problem, every one of us," considers Kekovic. To identify the problem, he warns that there is an urgent need for this to be recognized as a problem at the level of all the structures that mean well to the state, to see what we can do. "The first step is to recognize the problem. We from the Union have recognized it and we know this is very dramatic. Urgently from the level of all structures, from the level of government and competent ministries, to open this issue, organize roundtables, sit down, see what to do and mitigate this problem," Kekovic told CdM. It clearly states that one must recognize the educational structure of those who leave, then open jobs, and increase the salaries, in order to halt the departure by the experts we need.
"We are already left without staff. The ones who mostly leave are healthcare workers, doctors, nurses. The Union of Free Trade Unions will definitely take certain steps to solve this problem," Kekovic said.
The seriousness of this problem is also highlighted by Aleksandar Damjanović.
Simply, he claims, regardless of the large political divisions and the social instability of society, we all have to be aware that this is perhaps the biggest problem facing the Montenegrin society that threatens to undermine the very foundations of the state.
"This means that we put all the capacities in the process of stopping this to occur, to be honest about it and not to selfishly think that a good and skillful man who does not see himself in such a society and who is likely to never return will leave room for someone with much worse knowledge and qualifications. Such thinking will come back to us like a boomerang before we become aware of it," warns Damjanovic.
According to him, the problem of mass departure, above all young people from Montenegro, is not isolated, but all Western Balkan countries and even less developed EU members are affected.
"This process has long persisted, and in the case of limited demographic capacities and negative demographic trends, which is the case in Montenegro, it has multiple negative, almost devastating consequences. With some indications that only from the moment of independence of Montenegro, some 50,000 and 60,000 have left, who are mostly young people looking for a job and a better living standard, a special problem is that it is a question of the educated and professionally qualified personnel and also the citizens out of whom only few will return to Montenegro," Damjanovic said.
On the other hand, he adds, Montenegro already feels a deficit of high-tech and specialist knowledge, and the basis for filling these jobs is getting thinner, and otherwise piled up with politicized, and not particularly capable state administration, resulting in a wider level of services provided by the public sector to citizens.
"Instead of being worried and hurt by the fact that thousands of young people from Montenegro go abroad looking for all kinds of jobs, from the fields of marijuana in the United States in the status of modern slaves to the jobs for which they need the most qualifications and skills, we also run away from discussing this problem, and whether we are trying to find a systemic and long-term solution. And these solutions are in creating the condition that political affiliation is not a key job recommendation, what is now the case, i.e. that all public policies and measures are aimed at increasing youth employment, supporting young couples, but also accurately identifying current and future labor market needs in Montenegro and alignment with the Montenegrin educational system," Damjanovic told CdM.
How many doctors left Montenegro?
In the media, information about the significant departure of doctors and medical staff from Montenegro is most commonly reported. On the departure of professional staff, the Trade Union of the Doctor of Medicine of Montenegro has warned for a long time. According to their data, from 2014 until today, about fifty doctors left Montenegro, who found their jobs outside our country.
According to the data of the Doctors' Trade Union, 101 doctors have left the public health system of Montenegro for the past four years. As they warn, the overall state of health has led to massive dissatisfaction among the doctors, among which a kind of silent revolt takes place in the form of staff departures. As one of the many problems, it is stated that doctors not only are not appreciated but are very improperly labeled as the most corrupted part of society.
The Ministry of Health has different data. They say that 42 doctors have left the Clinical Center of Montenegro in the last six years, of which 15 retired, one went to Danilovgrad Health Center, one in CALIMS, three to the Medical Faculty, six abroad.
"Therefore, it's mostly about migration within the health system. Also, 17 doctors continued their work engagement in private healthcare facilities, most of them in the public health care institutions, while a number of primary care doctors went to secondary care or continued their work engagement in KCCG," said the Ministry of Health to CdM.
Text by Miraš Dušević, on October 17th, 2018, read more at CdM
