Retired Doctors & Medical Students Pooling In Amid 7-Year Staffing Shortage

Anil Bachoo, Minister of Health, has announced an urgent plan to recruit contract doctors amid a severe shortage across all public hospitals. The public healthcare system has been struggling for years due to a lack of new hires, with no recruitment happening in the past seven years. Many doctors have left to specialize abroad, further deepening the crisis.

“We are facing a major shortage of doctors in all hospitals. It’s been seven years since we last recruited, and now patients are the ones suffering,” Bachoo told Défi Quotidien in a phone interview.

Recently, around 40 doctors took unpaid leave to pursue specialization overseas. While they have the right to do so, their absences leave critical hospital positions vacant, Bachoo explained.

To address this, the Ministry is launching an emergency annual contract recruitment campaign.

This initiative is only for doctors already registered in Mauritius and under 70 years old; no international recruitment is planned.

The recruited doctors will be required to work 24/7, including weekends, holidays, and during cyclones.

They will be assigned to various departments such as general medicine, emergency, pediatrics, gynecology, surgery, orthopedics, and anesthesiology.

In community centers, their roles will include prevention, curative care, rehabilitation, training, and community engagement.

These doctors will earn a monthly salary of Rs 41,250, plus an Rs 13,200 transport allowance if they use their own vehicle for work-related travel.

Bachoo also highlighted a critical shortage of around 1,500 nurses in public hospitals.

An upcoming contract recruitment is planned for nurses, with 300 students currently in training expected to join the workforce within three years.

The minister emphasized the need to attract high-level specialists such as surgeons, oncologists, and neurosurgeons.

“We need doctors capable of performing complex surgeries here, so patients won’t have to travel abroad for treatment,” he said.

A hospital expert confirmed the shortage is felt on the ground, noting that many doctors temporarily leave the country for further specialization, often due to difficulties in having their medical qualifications recognized locally or abroad.

For example, a Mauritian medical degree is not automatically recognized in China, requiring doctors to redo parts of their training, which often leads them to take long unpaid leave.

Beyond accreditation issues, many doctors cited poor working conditions, lack of recognition, and inadequate status as reasons for leaving public hospitals.

They often find better pay and respect in private clinics, where they enjoy a more favorable professional environment. The public system, in contrast, is seen as unwelcoming.

Adding to the strain, there is a rising number of young patients suffering from non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, mental health issues, and addictions.

Healthcare workers observed a significant shift in patient profiles, with these cases becoming more common than decades ago. This is trend increasing the pressure on an already overstretched hospital system.

Experts warned that if the current focus remains solely on curative care without strategic change, the healthcare system risks collapse. They advocated for a shift towards prevention, health education, and wellness promotion to reduce the incidence of chronic diseases and ease hospital burdens in the long term.

Source: Defi Media