Session 13. Migrant health workers in the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic

The shortage of health professionals is a global phenomenon (Pang et al. 2002; Chen et al. 2004; Nullis-Kapp 2005). The geographical mobility of doctors, but also of nurses has been the subject of many studies (Gish 1971; Bevan et al. 1979; Kinfu et al. 2009).

The reconstruction of health workers’ career paths should highlight the difficulties that these health professionals, often from Southern countries, may have encountered in the recognition of their qualifications. Frequently faced with disqualification processes, these medical staff are often underemployed (Déplaude 2011; Niamh et al. 2013). Many authors have referred to this as "brain-waste" (Bourgeault 2007), questioning, also from an ethical point of view, the "right" of these highly qualified professionals to migrate (Oberman 2013), to leave their country where the shortage of health care staff is also faced with risks of large-scale epidemics (Ebola, Zika, AIDS, SARS, malaria, yellow fever, et. al.).

The current health crisis has highlighted the precarious and discriminatory working conditions of health professionals with foreign qualifications, who are on the front line in the fight against the Covid-19 virus. In a hospital sector characterized by a global labour shortage, the origin of the diploma remains the key to careers.

This session would provide a further insight into the links between migration and professional careers within the hospital. From a theoretical point of view, ethnographical approaches based on grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 2009) will be appreciated, that is, an empirical approach focused on the point of view and practices of individuals.

Francesca Sirna is a sociologist and researcher at the CNRS. She has been working for over 20 years on the links between migration and crises (economic, social and health crises). For the past ten years, she has been working on the issue of migration and professional paths in the French hospital sector. She analyses gender differences and discrimination linked to origin in the recruitment process of foreign-educated hospital staff.