Authorities warn of acute shortage of doctors

The Burundi authorities have warned of a growing shortage of medical personnel in the country, the BBC reported on Tuesday. The shortage, the authorities say, is caused by the emigration of doctors to neighbouring countries and western Europe. The dean of Bujumbura University’s faculty of medicine, Jean-Bosco Ndihokubwayo, said the King Khaled hospital in the capital had lost 21 of its 35 doctors over the past three years. He warned that medical cover in the country, already under pressure following seven years of civil war, was close to breaking point and there was a serious risk of major epidemics of disease. He said that there were now fewer staff in his faculty to instruct trainee doctors.