Over the past five years in Brussels, doctors starting a practice were more often foreigners. The influx of non-Belgian doctors in Brussels has been over 50% since 2014, the daily De Standaard said Thursday on the basis of INAMI data.
President of the Belgian Association of Medical Unions (ABSyM) Marc Moens feels that foreign doctors are essentially active in hospital "where they are seen as a cheap labour force to ensure on-call duty."
Mr. Moens warns against distortion, since EU practitioners are automatically accepted, whereas their Belgian counterparts are subject to a quota. "It is absurd to impose an entrance examination on our youth, while a Pole, Romanian or Latvian automatically receives his/her registration number."
Minister of Health Maggie De Block (Open VLD) recognizes the "system’s limits" and ensures that the health commission is investigating whether quotas may be imposed on non-Belgian doctors, but coming from an EU country.
The Brussels Times
