Estonia faces a critical shortage of internal medicine specialists, with nearly half of those currently working in the field set to reach retirement age in the next 5–10 years. The shortage also poses a major challenge for county hospitals.
Previously, the main focus has been on the national shortage of family doctors, however, there is now also believed to be serious crisis when it comes to the number of internal medicine doctors. Estonia already has a shortage of internal medicine specialists, with the situation only expected to get worse as 42 percent in the profession are due to reach retirement age in the next five to ten years.
“The current trend is that medical school graduates are no longer choosing a specialty, but are staying on as general practitioners, which has led to a decline in the number of residency applicants,” said Marit Märk, head of the Estonian Society of Internal Medicine.
“As a result, only half the expected number of state-funded places for internal medicine residencies were filled last year,” Märk added.
According to Märk, general practitioners have knowledge of all medical specialties, though mostly from a theoretical rather than practical perspective.
Read more: ERR.EE
