DEPARTING DOCTORS EXACERBATE THE GREECE’S MASSIVE BRAIN DRAIN by Erik Olsen Whether or not Greece abandons the euro is of huge importance to many Greeks in country. But for many others who have left Greece since the beginning of the financial crisis, a Greek default may have little impact other than perhaps a blow to national pride. “It’s not that big of a concern for me financially because I work in Germany,” said Alexios Theodorou, a Greek general surgeon working at the district hospital in Gummersbach, Germany. Mr. Theodorou left Greece five years ago as the crisis was beginning. “My paycheck is secured. But that doesn’t make my concern about the future any less, as I have much family in Greece. Greece is where I still call home.” In the midst of the economic turmoil that is making headlines across Europe, Greece is in the midst of the worst brain drain in modern history, say experts. The country is hemorrhaging professional talent on a daily basis as the best and brightest in medicine, engineering and academics flee for a better economic climate and richer, more stable employment opportunities. The pain has been particularly severe where Greece’s ailing healthcare sector is concerned, as many of the country’s doctors have left or are making plans to do so. According to official statistics, as many as 5,000 Greek doctors have left the country over the last five years, with some 3,000 of them ending up in Germany. “I don’t feel safe and secure for the future of my family here,” says Spyridon Kotsaris, an Athens orthopedic surgeon surgeon who has been planning for months to leave Greece with his wife and two daughters, preferably to Germany or Switzerland. “We want a better life. A better life means we are all together and feel more secure.” According to government statistics, since the crisis began five years ago, nearly 300,000 people have left Greece. This amounts to nearly 3% of its population before the crisis began. Imagine almost two million of the United States’ finest doctors, scientists, and engineers picking up and leaving the country. In some ways, the loss of so much young talent might be more devastating to Greece in the long term than abandoning the euro. That has left some who sought a better life feeling increasingly bittersweet about the decision to leave. “I feel sad seeing my country going through this rough time,” said Mr. Theodorou. “We, the people who left, are not to blame for the situation, but we sometimes feel guilty that we are leaving, that we left the people there to handle their problems.”