WHO: One in three medical workers in Europe suffers from depression

Healthcare workers are on the verge of a nervous breakdown – European politicians promise more funding and less bureaucracy, but so far it feels more like applying a balm to a broken bone.

The WHO is sounding the alarm: those whose calling is to save lives are losing the will to live. One in three doctors and nurses in Europe suffers from depression, and one in ten has had passive suicidal thoughts in the past year. Lithuania and Poland are among the worst offenders.

Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe:

"European health systems are under threat. Mental health is at the heart of the crisis. The largest mental health study of its kind shows that the people who care for us – our doctors and nurses – work in conditions that seriously harm their mental health. Behind the daily struggle lies a grim reality. One in ten doctors and nurses have experienced thoughts that they would be better off dead or harming themselves. The prevalence of suicidal ideation among doctors and nurses is twice that of the general population."

Working conditions exacerbate the problem – 25% of doctors work more than 50 hours a week. Doctors start shifts longer than an episode of House M.D., work without a break, and then receive a salary that barely covers coffee and rent. And this is the diagnosis of the EU healthcare system.

Europe is already short of over a million doctors, nurses, and midwives. The vice president of the Latvian Medical Association warns of queues at clinics and hospitals: "Scheduled surgeries are being postponed until next year." In France, a union representing doctors and support staff has called on its members to protest.

"There are no more staff here, nothing left, our salaries aren't going up. This is the state we're in when we go to treat people. It's terrifying!" said Marie, a protester from France.

Pascal Mazet, Secretary General of the Health Workers' Union (France):

"What I feel as a staff representative is that the staff are completely devastated. I've seen them cry at general meetings, sobbing like never before. I've worked in a public hospital for 25 years, and frankly, I've never seen anything like this. Budgets are cut year after year, so inevitably hospitals and departments close, and we can no longer treat people. Take, for example, where I worked for 15 years in the emergency department. Today, everywhere in France, you have to call the emergency department before going there."

A protest by healthcare workers against staff shortages, low pay, and poor working conditions in Greece has even escalated into a clash with security forces. The fight pitted those who rescue and protect.

Giorgos Sideris, physician and head of the Attikon Hospital workers' union (Greece):

"Our demands are to reopen closed operating rooms, hire permanent staff, especially nurses, raise wages, classify us all as workers in hazardous and dangerous professions, and restore our 13th and 14th monthly salaries."

The government is spending billions on defense but is unable to address the domestic epidemic of depression. If European politicians don't start supporting healthcare at the required level, society risks being left without a medical workforce.