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Portugal's national health service witnesses exodus of doctors

Xinhua, August 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

Thousands of doctors have asked for early retirement or have emigrated since 2011 from Portugal's national health service, local media reported.

"We are seeing a never-before-seen exodus of doctors in our country," Mario Jorge Neves, head of the National Federation of Doctors, said in a conference Wednesday, putting the number at over 3000 during the past four years.

"In the period of the colonial war there were just as many doctors fleeing to other countries. Not because the country didn't have jobs, but because they were treated badly, they were badly paid and had no perspectives of progressing," he was quoted by the Lusa News Agency as saying.

He referred to the phenomenon as an "absolute brain drain" and said that the doctors leaving the national health service are highly qualified.

Neves also said that many doctors are leaving the national health service to work in the private sector, so that they can ask for early retirement.

Portugal's financial crisis has forced a large number of people to flee the country in search of opportunities as many high-skilled professionals can barely survive on the national minimum wage of around 500 euros (557 U.S. dollars) per month. Endi