Five years from now, Belgium will have 3,700 too many qualified doctors, the Journal du Médecin reported on its internet site on Friday. This is based on the latest report by the Health SPF’s Medical Planning Commission. Belgian universities have been seeing too many doctors graduate for several years now. Last year, there were 169 more than the federal quota (1,025).

In Flanders, 672 doctors graduated, through a course limited to 615. French-speaking universities produced 522 doctors, despite a quota of 410.

The SPF’s predictors have guessed that at the end of 2018, the total number of those graduated from the Flemish community will ‘be close to the yearly quota”, which shows how effective the entrance exam in place since 1997 is.

French-speaking doctors think the situation could become “very problematic” the report says.

The Commission also says that the only system that has succeeded in restricting the numbers to the French-speaking quota was the one in place between 1997 and 2002: a selection at the end of the third year of studies.

The report seems to request, implicitly, more restricted access to medical studies in the Brussels-Wallonia Federation, the Journal du Médecin says.

Maria Novak (Source: Belga)