Nitra Region Faces Shortage of 70 Doctors Within Five Years

Nitriansky samosprávny kraj (NSK) will need 70 new doctors over the next five years, regional lawmakers and professional organizations said following a roundtable discussion held in Bratislava in September, as the region reports the oldest population of physicians among Slovakia's regions.¹²

Losses across the network

According to NSK MP Henrich Varga, the region has lost 53 positions of general practitioners and pediatricians over the past five years. In Komárno district alone, ten pediatrician positions have disappeared.¹²

Varga said the situation is not a future risk but a present reality: "Nejde o hrozbu do budúcnosti. Deje sa už teraz. He added that sticking with the current approach would only produce more empty clinics down the line.²

Aging workforce

Data presented at the roundtable show that 54 percent of general practitioners for adults in NSK are older than 60. Doctor and NSK parliamentary candidate Monika Kolejáková said that as the population grows older, adult general practitioners will be needed all the more. She added that, alongside nurses, this group represents the biggest shortfall anywhere in the healthcare system.²

According to Kolejáková, this claim about general practitioners for adults being the most lacking category across the entire healthcare system has not been independently confirmed by other sources in the dossier.²

Kolejáková also warned that the collapse of the general practitioner network would not eliminate patients but shift them to already overburdened doctors: "Rozpad siete všeobecných ambulancií pacientov nezruší. Instead, she said, those patients would simply be pushed onto another doctor who is already stretched thin.²

Young doctors and possible remedies

Kolejáková pointed out that in NSK's younger doctor cohort, roughly 85 percent are women in their early thirties, and said the present setup makes it hard for them to hold down a job while raising children. She said no adequate arrangements currently exist to let them combine working with parenting.²

Varga proposed that the region actively recruit young doctors through internships, mentoring by experienced physicians, and packages arranged with towns and municipalities: "NSK musí aktívne získavať mladých lekárov cez stáže, mentorstvo skúsených lekárov a balíky pripravené s mestami a obcami." He also said each doctor should be given a single contact to guide them through the process: "Každý lekár musí dostať jeden kontakt, ktorý ho prevedie celým procesom."¹²

Roundtable participants

The roundtable in Bratislava brought together NSK MPs and representatives of professional organizations, including the Slovak Medical Chamber and the Association of Outpatient Providers, alongside Varga (Tím kraj Nitra), Kolejáková (KDH), Vladimír Ledecký (SaS) and Viliam Novotný (Demokrati).¹²