“I have been a nurse for ten years, currently working in a private hospital in Albania. I have chosen to go to Germany”, said a 32-year-old man, one of thousands of Albanian nurses that are preparing to leave the country and go to Germany, where he expects to be paid close to two thousand Euros per month.

Official data from the Albanian Nurses Association show that 2500 nurses have left Albania from the beginning of this year. Nearly 500 nurses from the University Hospital Centre Mother Theresa are attending courses of the German language.

The Association estimates 5300 nurses will have left the country till the end of the year. Data from the Physicians Order also speak about hundreds of doctors, mostly specialists, who have left Albania for a better life abroad in the last couple of years.