2/3 of currently practising doctors will retire in 10 to 15 years. The Luxembourgish health care sector is extremely instable, and the Grand-Duchy risks a lack of doctors.
The Chamber of Deputies passed a law on Tuesday to prevent this scenario, introducing a new bachelor's degree in medicine and two specialised fields – oncology and neurology – at the University of Luxembourg.
The law will also increase compensations for doctors in training from €3,300 to €4,175 in the first year. Compensations will be set at €5,175 in the fifth year.
The Christian Social People's Party (CSV) has voted in favour of the new law but criticised the fact that the university's head of medical studies was not consulted during the responsible commission's works on the matter.
The opposition party also criticised that the new law essentially creates 2 different paths to become a GP. Meanwhile, the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR) demanded that students from abroad seeking to study medicine in Luxembourg should also have to learn Luxembourgish. The party still voted in favour of the law as did the Pirate Party.
Déi Lénk abstained from the vote, stating that the law was not going far enough. The leftist party demanded a complete training programme for Luxembourg because Luxembourgish students were becoming more and more dependent on studying abroad.
The association of Luxembourgish medical students (ALEM) has also been demanding the introduction of a master's degree for medical studies at the University in Belval. Minister of Higher Education Claude Meisch has also stated that he is in favour of that idea. However, he explained that it was necessary to advance "step by step" and first introduce a bachelor's degree and evaluate if it makes sense to move ahead. Meisch also stated that a complete medical curriculum in Luxembourg could also present certain risks as the Grand-Duchy could then lose its privileged access to universities abroad. According to the minister, Luxembourg cannot become "independent" in the field of medicine.
