[ad_1]
NZDr is a New Zealand based medical recruitment agency providing specialists and GPs to all district health boards.
Martin King is a licensed immigration consultant for the agency, he said that New Zealand’s COVID response had resonated with the rest of the world and was shown in the demand to move, particularly from the US.
“You’ve probably seen an increase of about 100 percent in the last six months, previously we would have been looking at about 20 percent from the United States and currently we are seeing about 80 percent.”
To begin the moving process, you need a job offer to clear your medical record, and then you can apply to enter the border.
It would take some specialists up to six months to request your medical record.
Martin said the steps and restrictions in place were the reason he thought immigration statistics did not reflect the influx of doctors in the moving process.
And with 25 percent of GPs retiring in the next ten years, according to data from the Royal New Zealand College of GPs, he said there is a widening gap in our medical sector.
“Somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of our medical specialists were trained abroad, there is a group of doctors who are reaching that retirement age, we only have so many graduates that we can bring ourselves.”
The United States is in a tough battle with COVID-19. It became the first nation in the world since the pandemic began to exceed 10 million coronavirus infections, according to a Reuters tally on Sunday, as the third wave of the Covid-19 virus surges across the country.
Health workers were feeling it more.
Dr. Tracy Parish is an emergency medicine physician and medical director of several urgent care centers and two covid testing stations in North Carolina.
“What we’ve been in is this exhausting, I can’t even describe it, I just finished, I’m exhausted, I can’t do this anymore.”
She has set her eyes on New Zealand since medical school, but says COVID-19 was the catalyst for making the decision.
“So we don’t have a national health system and because of COVID there are so many things that I want to do differently that would be more efficient, that would be safer for staff and patients, but we are even reluctant to do. [those] due to financial problems. “
Politics was also another deciding factor.
“President Trump directly addressed the doctors who care for COVID patients saying that we were basically cooking up the numbers to get money. When he says something like that, I don’t even know how to respond to that.”
Dr. Steyn Lottering from South Africa echoed his concern.
“The main reason many South Africans emigrate is concern about security, the crime rate and also political stability.”
She completed isolation with her fiancé, who is a registered nurse, before starting new jobs in Hawke’s Bay.
After a dizzying year for both of them, they were finally able to get flights and made the leap.
“There were a lot of obstacles in our way, it would have been a much shorter process if it weren’t for COVID, you know, all the countries were suddenly blocked so it was difficult to get flights and then we both had covid earlier this year.”
The UK has started its second lockdown with over a million registered cases and 47,000 deaths.
Sally Thompson is a GP at a medical center in Carlisle, she took a job in Wainuiomata starting in the next few months.
After the center in Carlisle was sold, he decided to take the initiative. A growing workload and COVID were consuming his time.
“I found that more and more I felt like I was working longer hours and had less and less time.”
She said the prospect of work would help her get through the closure, but the main thing she was waiting for was to hug her friend Kiwi on New Zealand soil.
“It’s giving me a boost that I think maybe I wouldn’t have if I didn’t know I was coming to New Zealand.
“I have an old friend who lives near where I’m moving, I see her and I can give her a hug. I haven’t been able to hug anyone for eight months.”
RNZ
