On Thursday, the Lithuanian parliament voted in favour of introducing additional state-funded medical residency positions.
But there is a catch.
The state pays, but the junior doctor, upon admission, signs a contract committing to work for five years in a region that is facing a lack of health care professionals after their residency.
The junior doctors are not impressed and plan to take the case to the Constitutional Court.
“The chosen measure is populist,” Laurynas Maciulevičius, Lithuania’s Junior Doctors Association president, told Euronews Health in a written comment. While the aim is to ensure access to healthcare in regions that face a lack of health professionals, “it does not answer the fundamental question: why do doctors choose, or choose not, to work in regional areas?” Maciulevičius said.
