Buenos Aires – A new report by International Organization for Migration demonstrates that Venezuelan migration is helping relieve the health professional shortages Argentina is facing.

Many of the 145,000 Venezuelans currently living in Argentina are trained as nurses and doctors. In fact, there are 16 Argentine provinces where Venezuelan physicians already are certified to work, with more than 200 medical professionals, just in the province of Buenos Aires alone, and smaller numbers in Jujuy, Chubut, and Córdoba. There even are Venezuelans working in the public health system as far south as Tierra del Fuego.

IOM has released these and other findings of the study Labour Integration in the Health Sector of the Venezuelan Population in Argentina, carried out in the framework of the response to the flows of refugees and migrants from Venezuela in the country.

The study was recently launched (23/08) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the participation of the National Directorate for Migration (DNM, Spanish acronym), senior officials from the provinces of Catamarca and Salta and organizations of Venezuelan health professionals.

The research aims to characterize the Venezuelan health professionals living in Argentina, both in terms of their labour qualifications and those much sought after by the local job market. By means of this study, IOM hopes to contribute to decision-making by migration, sanitary and educational authorities, regarding the promotion of the labour integration of the Venezuelan population residing in the country.

According to the study, in order to fully comply with international standards, Argentina should triple the number of nurses to properly meet the requirements of the health system.

The report also highlights that there is an unequal distribution of health professionals throughout the country, with high percentages in capital cities and urban centres, thus generating shortages in other places, especially in the countryside.

The study notes that Argentina has already adopted measures to facilitate the recognition of the degrees obtained by Venezuelan health professionals. In this sense, the settlement of newly arrived doctors from Venezuela, as well as their relocation to areas in need of medical skills, has been supported and these actions have generated great benefits for the public health systems of the provinces with less human resources. That, in turn, leads to the labour insertion of Venezuelan doctors in their fields, promoting quality work for them, the study found.

Yang Álvarez, a Venezuelan doctor living in Argentina and the director of Inter-institutional Relations of the Association of Venezuelan Doctors in Argentina (ASOMEVENAR), explained: “The province with the highest number of Venezuelan doctors is Buenos Aires, with more than 200 professionals; followed by Jujuy with 50, Chubut with 40, and Córdoba, with 15. From Jujuy to Tierra del Fuego, there are already Venezuelan physicians working in the public health system.”

Watch the interview with Yang Álvarez here.

Gabriela Fernández, IOM Argentina Head of Office, listed several measures that the Government of Argentina has taken to make possible the inclusion of the Venezuelan population and emphasizing that “at every governmental level, efforts are undertaken so that the integration of this population is successful.”

Fernández added: “The profile of the Venezuelan population in Argentina is highly professional. Almost 50 per cent have a university degree and nine per cent have completed postgraduate courses. We are talking about a human capital that should be taken into consideration and aided towards their labour inclusion.”

She also thanked the provinces that are helping Venezuelan health professionals to join their hospitals, as well as the Venezuelan associations operating as support networks for those that have arrived recently.

The study was funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) from the United States Department of State.

Download the study here.

Watch an interview about the report here.

For more information please contact Juan Pablo Schneider at IOM Argentina, Tel: +54 11 48151035, Email: jschneider@iom.int