Romanian doctor shortage worsens as thousands seek work abroad

Between 2020 and 2025 Romanian physicians applied for roughly 6,000 certificates that allow them to practice in other EU states, most often France, the United Kingdom and Germany. The capital Bucharest accounted for about 1,940 of those requests, with the counties of Timiș, Cluj and Iași also seeing large outflows.

In the county of Buzău, the local emergency hospital lost 28 doctors over the same period, a loss that would have covered staffing needs for ten to twelve similar hospitals. The shortage forces patients to travel hundreds of kilometres to access specialist care, and hospitals frequently lack sufficient staff for emergency shifts in departments such as neurology and cardiology.

To mitigate the crisis, the Buzău County Council has partnered with the University Emergency Hospital in Bucharest, arranging rotating specialist teams, tele‑medicine support and promises of housing subsidies for new hires. Authorities also plan to reinforce the hospital’s infrastructure and offer financial incentives to retain and attract medical personnel.