Andorra Doctor Warns Bureaucracy Deters Young Family Physicians

Albert Dorca, president of the Col·legi Oficial de Metges d’Andorra (COMA), has raised alarms over increasing bureaucracy in medical practice, which is discouraging young doctors from pursuing family medicine and threatening generational replacement as many professionals near retirement.

In comments to the Andorran News Agency, Dorca explained that the four-year family medicine specialty, pursued via the MIR training system, is losing appeal due to heavy administrative demands. Young doctors opting for placements are bypassing it to avoid becoming "bureaucrats in the health system," he said.

The issue fuels concerns about replacing outgoing staff amid an existing shortage. "With fewer doctors overall and family medicine falling out of favour for these reasons, there's real doubt about achieving smooth turnover," Dorca stated. He described the problem as common across Europe, with Spain facing particularly severe pressures, where family doctors handle growing volumes of non-medical tasks like paperwork, certificates, data entry, and other duties. "In Spain, they're being turned into bureaucrats... doing a thousand papers, a thousand certificates, a thousand clicks and a thousand things that aren't really practising medicine," he said. Such workloads, he added, lead to significant professional burnout.

Andorra stands in a stronger position. While salaries sit at intermediate levels—factoring in associated costs—family doctors here retain greater autonomy. "We're middling on pay, but slightly better on professional practice than Spain," Dorca noted. Despite some bureaucratisation, Principat physicians focus more on core medical work, helping keep the specialty relatively attractive.

Covering retirements remains the key hurdle, a challenge shared widely in Europe. "We don't have a clear plan for those about to retire," Dorca admitted. He called for making Andorra appealing enough to draw talent, stressing that opportunities exist but depend on doctors choosing the country. "We need to be attractive enough that someone knocks on the door and says: hello, I'd like to work here. The offer is there, but someone has to answer."

The COMA is working with the health ministry to enhance conditions, while highlighting family medicine's vital role, patient accompaniment, and professional independence as draws that could help sustain interest.