The cabinet plans to increase the number of medical students graduating from Swiss universities by 25%. The goal is to decrease reliance on overseas medical professionals following EU immigration quotas vote of February 2014. 

The CHF100 million ($109 million) is expected to create 250 more Swiss doctors every year, an increase of 25%. The extra funds will be available from 2017 onwards pending parliamentary approval and will be distributed over four years. It is a part of the government’s “masterplan” to train more health professionals and constitutes one of 30 measures announced on Friday to make the most of the Swiss workforce. 

In an interview with Swiss public radio SRF on Saturday, Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann said he hoped Switzerland would be able to reduce the number of doctors recruited from abroad. 

“We must also train our doctors based on our own quality requirements, who come from our culture and who are fluent in our languages,” he said. 

According to the Swiss Statistics Office, of the 14,310 doctors practising in Swiss hospitals in 2013, 23% were from Germany, 10% from other EU countries and 2.3% from elsewhere. 

The number of doctors graduating every year from Swiss universities stands at around 950, an increase of 30% since 2007.

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