The National Medical Council of Serbia annually issues around 800 certificates needed by doctors when applying for jobs abroad. In Kosovo and Bosnia, national medical workers’ associations report that hundreds of highly qualified doctors leave each year.

In September, the Zenica cantonal hospital in central Bosnia issued a statement saying the town of over 100,000 no longer had neuro-pediatric medical care available. Many children with appointments had their examinations delayed until further notice.

The flight of doctors to the West in recent years has been documented in every former socialist country from Southeast Europe and the Balkans.

The main reasons usually cited are a lack of professionalism in the workplace, poor working conditions and meagre salaries. Typical salaries for doctors are only around 600 euros a month while nurses make around 400 euros.

The consequences of the exodus are plain to see on the ground. The emigration of health workers leads to underdevelopment of the sector as a whole, especially in far-flung regions and when it comes to healthcare for the elderly, children and women.

Emigration stretches health systems to the point of collapse and results in a loss of vital services. It ensures a drop in the quality of healthcare provision.

In Romania, 10 per cent of the population now live without healthcare, according to Politico.

At the same time, the EU profits from this emigration. Germany, the wealthiest economy in the bloc, is among the top beneficiaries. It is estimated that for every six doctors in Bosnia, one now works in Germany. Meanwhile, Germany’s need for health workers is projected to increase from 2.86 million to 4.5 million by 2060.

More than 80 million Europeans live abroad. If you put them all together and formed a country, it would be the second-largest state in the EU after Germany.

More than 80 million Europeans live abroad. If you put them all together and formed a country, it would be the second-largest state in the EU after Germany.

The new reality is that emigration is far less permanent than it was in previous decades. Temporary migrants in developed countries outnumber permanent migrants three to one, and between 20 and 50 per cent of migrants leave their host countries within three to five years.

In the Western Balkans, circular migration is an unstructured process initiated and maintained by migrants themselves.

Migrants keep up networks in both their countries of origin and the places they move to. They benefit from these networks independently of any relationship with or connection to the governments of their countries of origin.

Governments can to some extent change the dynamics of labour and emigration — by allowing the portability of benefits across borders along with extra training and specialisation, but also making sure skills gained abroad are recognised and valued back home.

To move and work in different places has never been easier, especially in some sectors like IT. This is even more important for smaller countries with higher rates of skilled emigration and fewer possibilities to quickly replace skilled workers.

The basic premise that migrants should have the right — and the necessary conditions — to move between host countries and back home at any point should be the minimum.

Such arrangements must include timely and full disclosure of information about labour and pension rights, the possibility of dual citizenship, permanent residence permits and so on.