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Half of young doctors trained abroad

Nearly half of all assistant doctors in Switzerland received their medical training abroad, up from one-third five years ago.

According to a survey published by a Swiss medical newspaper, the proportion of foreign-trained assistant doctors rose from 32 to 44 per cent between 2003 and 2008.

Most of the doctors in question come from Germany. Just 10 per cent of foreign assistant doctors come from another European Union country, while four per cent are non-EU nationals.

The German medical staff are part of a recent wave of immigration from across the border.

There are now 250,000 Germans in Switzerland, double the number eight years ago, and experts now speak of the problem of “germanophobia”, particularly in Zurich.

The survey in the newspaper, Schweizerische Ärztezeitung, was conducted by the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Bern University and the Swiss Institute for Medical Training.

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