Anschubfinanzierung "Doctors on the move: Transnational Research into Healthcare Migration (TREATMi)“

Exodus has been the main image evoked when describing the recent rise in the mobility of medical
doctors in Iran and Turkey, that threatens to push already strained healthcare systems to the brink of
collapse.This surge can be linked to multifaceted factors, including the privatization of the
healthcare sector, escalating incidents of workplace violence against medical doctors, a pervasive
cost-of-living crisis, and collective political despair following recent revolutionary momentum in
Iran (2022) and the last presidential election in Turkey (2023). Healthcare professionals serving
refugee populations, especially the nearly 4,000 displaced Syrians working in migrant health centers
in Turkey, appear particularly hard hit by precarity, a xenophobic public discourse, and limited
working rights.Meanwhile in Germany, which emerges as one of the main destination countries for Turkish, Iranian
and Syrian doctors, one goal of its increasingly selective migration policy is to attract foreign workers
to address the country's own healthcare crisis, resulting from privatization, labor shortages, and
population aging.12 Foreign-born doctors are further relied-upon to serve an increasingly diverse
population, but face significant administrative and language barriers themselves. The mobility of
medical doctors thus connects the multi-facetted crises in all three countries, with important
implications for their respective healthcare sectors, population health, and future migration policy as
well as for the wellbeing of the doctors themselves.
Managing the potential global health risks of an exodus from strained healthcare systems, such as
those observed in Iran and Turkey, while maximizing its potential benefits and safeguarding the
wellbeing of doctors requires a comprehensive understanding of the wide-ranging drivers and
consequences of this ongoing phenomenon. TREATMI, through its transnational and transdisciplinary
approach, endeavors to provide this crucial understanding