German hospitals fear departure of Syrian doctors, ‘I am needed there’

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  Chiem Balduk

  Germany correspondent

Chief physician Jan Gensch is short of words to describe his Syrian colleague. “He is very gifted, can do everything and as a person he is also an incredibly nice man.” Gensch doesn’t want to think about the cardiologist leaving Germany. “That would be an unimaginably great loss.”

Yet that is exactly what Housam Almustafa is considering. In 2012, he had to flee Aleppo after providing medical aid to people injured in anti-regime protests. “Assad didn’t allow that.” Now that the dictator has been driven out, Almustavan is thinking about returning.

German hospitals are very concerned about a possible brain drain of Syrian doctors. “I understand that many want to return, but that could have major consequences for our healthcare system,” said the chairman of the German hospital association. There are already 200,000 vacancies in healthcare.

Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, around 1 million Syrians have come to Germany. Compared to other refugees in Germany, Syrians are relatively highly educated. There are 5,800 Syrian doctors, making them the largest group foreign doctors in Germany. “In Germany, doctors were able to start working relatively quickly. As a result, even Syrian doctors from the Netherlands started working in Germany,” says Almustafa.

Of course, it wasn’t easy to find his feet, says Almustafa. “A new country, a new language, a different healthcare system, but I had nice and helpful colleagues.” In six years he managed to obtain all the necessary papers to start working as a cardiologist. Since October he has been the second man in the department, in the Parkklinik in the north of Berlin.

Almustafa has built a completely new life in Germany. The rest of his family has also left Syria. The family home was captured by the Syrian army. “But this week I heard it’s back in our hands.” Although damaged by bombings, that doesn’t bother him.

It was a week in which he slept little. But to experience dreams, he didn’t need sleep. “I never expected this dream to come true. Many tears of joy were shed, and we celebrated it big here in Berlin.”

Almustafa would prefer to go to Aleppo in the coming weeks to visit the family home. And who knows, in the longer term we may permanently return to Syria, if the situation in the country stabilizes. “Syrian doctors in particular, but actually all Syrians, must participate in the reconstruction. With all my heart and soul I want Aleppo to flourish again.”

It is still far too uncertain how the country will develop, says Almustafa. “There are all kinds of countries claiming a role in Syria.” He hopes that Syria will develop into a free, democratic country with ‘harmony between all groups’.

Less than 24 hours after the fall of Assad, political discussion about the return of Syrians broke out in Germany. In view of the German elections, right-wing parties want to profile themselves on migration. The radical right-wing AfD wants to deport every ‘partying’ Syrian; from the Christian Democrats of CDU/CSU there are calls to charter planes to bring Syrians back. The ‘integrated’ Syrians with an important job should be allowed to stay, according to the Bavarian Minister of the Interior.

The SPD and the Greens are calling for restraint, because the situation is still too uncertain. It also points out the importance of the Syrians for the German economy. Moreover, migration researchers expect that most Syrians want to stay in Germany. After all, they have built a life in Germany.

Almustafa understands that his German friends and colleagues prefer to keep him in Berlin. “I am also happy if I can give something back to Germany, because I am very grateful for how the country has taken us in.” But he knows that he, as a doctor, will be desperately needed in Syria. “No one fled voluntarily. And now I want to rebuild the country.”