It is no longer a secret that Serbia lacks medical staff – particularly in smaller towns. Although the Ministry of Health, through its Office for Cooperation with the Diaspora, has launched a programme to bring medical professionals back from abroad, this still cannot compensate for the shortage that has existed in healthcare institutions for years.
Professional associations estimate that Serbia is short of at least 5,000 healthcare workers, including no fewer than 1,000 doctors. On the other hand, the data on the number of healthcare professionals leaving Serbia are more than bleak – more than several hundred doctors depart each year.
In light of all this, legitimate questions arise: will there be anyone to treat us in the future, and is there a lasting solution to the considerable outflow of medical staff?
According to the Physicians’ and Pharmacists’ Union of Serbia, 6,000 doctors have left the country over the past decade. The union states that doctors most often leave because of low salaries – the lowest in the region – as well as poor treatment and inappropriate pressure from management, difficult working conditions, and heavy workloads given the small number of doctors. Some also leave due to the inability to balance work and family life. The situation is no better for nurses and medical technicians – up to 1,500 leave the country annually.
The state has recently, evidently in an attempt to address this issue at least partially, sought to bring some medical professionals back. Those who decide to return are guaranteed employment. A few days ago, the Ministry of Health announced that, through the programmes of the Office for Cooperation with the Diaspora, nearly 300 healthcare workers have so far returned to Serbia, which represents a significant contribution to strengthening the staffing capacities of the healthcare system. The ministry also stated that returnees from the diaspora decided to come back because they wish to place their knowledge and experience in the service of protecting the health of Serbian citizens, to live and work near their families, and for their children to grow up in their own country.
Negative atmosphere and humiliating salaries
Former Minister of Health Dr Danica Grujičić told NIN that the situation is critical in smaller towns across the interior of the country, where in some specialties pensioners have been working for years.
“A very negative atmosphere has been created in almost all state healthcare institutions in the country, and it is no surprise that more and more excellent specialists are leaving public institutions. Not all of them go abroad; some take jobs in private clinics and practices within the country. For years, no rational plan for specialisations has been drawn up, and teaching at medical faculties is conducted in the same way as it was 70 years ago. To begin with, we need reform in the education of healthcare professionals of all profiles. Strict control over the allocation of funds is necessary, as is data protection and leadership personnel who command respect primarily because of their expertise, not party affiliation. The authorities fail to understand that authority is not acquired through a party membership card, but through dedicated work,” Grujičić states.
Alongside changes in the education system, she believes it is essential to assess the economic cost of training a doctor or nurse, which she says is currently underestimated.
“Accreditation should be granted only to schools and faculties that have clinical teaching bases and to educational institutions whose curricula are approved not only by the Ministry of Education or the National Accreditation Council but also by the Ministry of Health. Young people whose education has been funded by the state cannot simply buy out their obligation; they must repay the state through work, but not under just any conditions – rather, under conditions where they can truly demonstrate their full creativity. A plan for this already exists. Education plans, specialisations, and the number and type of specialisations must be determined by people who have spent at least 25 to 30 years in practice, because they know,” Grujičić points out.
Grujičić also highlights the issue of medical workers’ salaries as a key factor in whether someone remains in the country.
“Healthcare reform must be structured so that general practice forms its foundation, with well-trained and properly equipped doctors focused on prevention and public health education. Such doctors and the nurses who work with them must be paid far better. Current salaries are humiliating. Yes, they are higher than they were in 2012, but ask yourself what you can buy with those wages. The standard of living of healthcare workers remains degrading regardless of pay rises, which clearly do not keep pace with inflation, and all official recitations about percentages collapse when it comes time to pay the bills. Therefore, the solution is the right people in the right positions, an assessment of needs by professionals from both the health and economic sectors, a significant increase in the personal incomes of healthcare workers and all those employed in healthcare, and the creation of a normal social atmosphere as a prerequisite for any young person to remain in Serbia,” the former minister states.
Above the EU average
Draško Karađinović from the NGO Doctors Against Corruption told NIN that in Serbian healthcare, “estimates are constantly used because it appears that there are not even approximate data based on basic parameters”. Estimates of the number of doctors, he says, illustrate how much uncertainty exists in the fundamental data that should serve as the basis for successful planning of this crucial system.
“We continually remind people that Serbian healthcare has a higher total number of doctors per 100,000 inhabitants than the EU average. The situation is similar with hospital beds: the state sector alone, excluding the private sector, has more beds than the EU average. It is not even known what the total annual expenditure on healthcare amounts to. The budget of the Republic Health Insurance Fund for 2026 is 637 billion dinars, or 5.5 billion euros, and to that sum one must add allocations from many of the 174 cities and local authorities. For example, just the other day Subotica opened a clinic in Palić for which it allocated one million euros. And how many such cases are there across local authorities? How much citizens pay again out of pocket, in addition to contributions, is a major mystery of our healthcare system, which is why we must rely on data from the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the OECD, which claim that to the 5.5 billion euros one must add a further 40 per cent to obtain the figure for total expenditure,” Karađinović emphasises.
Finally, it should be noted that it is indeed a fact that the state has invested in healthcare in recent years. Salaries have been increased on several occasions, the best medical graduates have been given jobs, two clinical centres have been built, many institutions have been renovated, the vehicle fleet has been strengthened, and substantial equipment has been procured. However, if something fundamental does not change soon, the country could easily find itself in a situation where there will be no one to operate modern equipment. And the consequences will be felt by the citizens.
(NIN, 19.02.2026)