The deficit of Swiss hospitals has widened significantly in 2023

(Keystone-ATS) The largest share of the deficit, 743 million, concerns general care hospitals. The rest, 41 million, affects specialized clinics. Hospital costs rose to 36.1 billion francs in 2023.

As for hospitalizations, they continued to increase, with a slight increase of 0.9%. Hospitals recorded 1.5 million inpatient stays. The number of outpatient consultations, on the other hand, fell, from 24.4 to 23.9 million.

Osteoarticular diseases, such as osteoarthritis, were the main reason for hospitalization. Then come injuries, diseases of the circulatory system, tumors and mental disorders.

These latter disorders are the main cause of hospitalization among young people aged 10 to 24. Their number has been stable since 2021. On the other hand, hospitalizations linked to respiratory diseases jumped 13% compared to 2022, thus becoming the third cause of hospital stay for this age group.

Strong dependence on foreign countries

Hospitals rely heavily on foreign-trained doctors, who make up almost half of the workforce. Most studied in Germany (19.3%). There are also 3.1% of graduates in France, and 5.1% of graduates in Italy. The rest, 16.9%, earned a degree in another country.

Ticino relies heavily on its doctors qualified outside its borders, its rate of doctors having studied in Switzerland being only 31.2%. In Zurich, on the other hand, two thirds of doctors were trained in the country.

Qualified healthcare personnel are less affected by the phenomenon, with only a third having been trained abroad. Most were in France (12.3%) and 7.5% in another country. Next come Germany (8.6%) and Italy (2%).

The training of doctors is regularly debated in Parliament. The Council of States validated during the last session a motion aimed at improving access to medical studies.