site.btaOver 74% of Young Doctors from Sofia Medical University 2024 Graduating Class Plan to Stay in Bulgaria

For the third consecutive year, the number of young doctors who want to stay in Bulgaria after graduation continues to grow, indicates a survey among 224 Bulgarian graduates from the 2024 class of the Faculty of Medicine at the Medical University in Sofia, the higher education institution said on Friday.

A total of 74.3% of the graduates plan to work in Bulgaria. This means that this month, over 160 young doctors will enter hospitals.

The 2024 class is the third to consistently reverse the long-standing negative tendency of graduates wanting to continue their development outside of Bulgaria. In the 2022 graduating class, 50% of those surveyed wanted to stay in the country, and in the 2023 class, the number was 62.5%. For the first time in over ten years, the percentage of those remaining is so high, the Medical University in Sofia noted.

The Medical University also reported that 86.2% want to work in hospitals and only 7.7% plan to work as general practitioners. Only 2.9% of graduates would pursue a scientific career. The percentage of those wishing to work as sales representatives of pharmaceutical companies remains low (1.4%). Only 1.5% of the graduating class would work in an administrative structure in the healthcare system.

The three most important expectations of young doctors are: improved pay (25%), improved management at all levels in the healthcare system (15.6%) and more modern equipment (12.4%).

Some 25.7% of the 2024 graduating class plan to leave the country, with 80.7% of them oriented primarily to European countries. Those wishing to work in the USA are 5.3% and have decreased by 3.5% compared to the previous class. The reasons for leaving Bulgaria are: higher pay abroad (22.7%), better organization of the healthcare system (19.4%). Graduates continue to indicate as a reason for leaving the fact that the development of young staff in the healthcare system in this country is difficult (14.3%).

Pediatrics is in first place as the most desired specialty (10%).. Cardiology is in second place (9.3%), surgery is in third place (8.7%). Next are imaging diagnostics (5.6%) and endocrinology (5.6%), obstetrics and gynecology (5%) and gastroenterology (4.3%). Interest in anesthesiology and intensive care has decreased significantly compared to the previous class (from 12.2% to 3%). 

Oncology and emergency medicine continue to be the least preferred fields of work by young doctors with 1.8% each.