Kosovo’s emergency services need 56 more specialists, while the staff shortage is being felt particularly strongly in regional hospitals. In some of them, shifts are carried out without a single doctor specializing in emergency medicine.
Naser Syla, director of the Emergency Clinic at the University Clinical Center of Kosovo (QKUK), said in an interview with the program “Health Today” that the clinic currently has 18 specialists, down from the 26 it previously had. Three of them have retired, while five have left their jobs for other opportunities, including employment outside Kosovo and in the private sector.
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Syla attributes the difficulty in filling the vacant positions also to the limited interest among young doctors in this specialization, the heavy workload and the age of the existing staff. He said emergency medicine is seen as a stressful and traumatic field, with an intense workload and little financial benefit.
“The fact that we do not have enough staff is a reality; it is a reality that we have a problem not only with the staff we currently have, the emergency doctors, but also with young doctors, very few of whom are interested in specializing in emergency medicine. I do not know the exact reason, but based on the conclusions we have reached together with the leadership, meaning those who make health policies both at the Ministry of Health and in Kosovo’s hospital service, it appears that emergency medicine is a highly stressful and traumatic field, the staff are extremely overburdened and it is an unprofitable field,” Syla said.
The Ministry of Health has taken steps to make the specialization more attractive, including an additional 200 euros for emergency doctors compared with specialists in other fields. According to Syla, this support has not been enough to resolve the staff shortage.
In the seven regional hospitals, there are shifts that are not fully covered by specialists. Syla said the minimum standard requires at least two emergency medicine specialists on every shift, but in practice some hospitals have only one or none at all.
“We have a problem with the new staff, who are not interested in the field of emergency medicine. Meanwhile, the staff currently working have many shortages, particularly in the regional hospitals. In the seven regional hospitals, there are partial shifts and rotations that are not covered by emergency medicine specialists, even though the absolute minimum is for every shift to have at least two emergency medicine specialists,” Syla said.
There are 18 specialists at QKUK divided across four shifts, while 19 newly qualified specialists are waiting to be employed. A recruitment competition has been opened, but Syla estimates that it will not enable all the candidates to be hired. According to information he has received from the directorate of the University Hospital and Clinical Service of Kosovo (SHSKUK), another recruitment competition is expected to open in February or March.
“That means that at the moment there are 18 of us, but we also have 19 new residents, 19 new specialists who have now qualified and are waiting to be employed. A recruitment competition has now been opened and we expect to hire some of them, although it is not enough to meet our needs,” Syla said.
To meet the minimum criteria under European standards, QKUK and the seven regional hospitals need a total of 56 more specialists. Syla said that although the need is also great in the regional hospitals, most young doctors aim to find employment at QKUK.
The Emergency Clinic also faces infrastructure constraints. It occupies 503 square meters, has 25 beds and treats more than 350 patients within 24 hours.
Of the available beds, 9 are for traumatology, 8 for internal medicine cases, 3 for surgery and 1 for orthopedics. The others are used for triage and in the minor procedure room.
