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The new academic year started this Monday at the University of Health Sciences Youcef El Khatib from Ben Aknoun in Algiers. If the reception event for new graduates took on festive tunes, it was not enough to dissipate persistent worries, around the professional uncertainties that weigh on future doctors.
The faculty welcomed new students for a day of immersion under the sign of discovery and conviviality. Between information stands, cultural and sporting activities, a ping-pong table even appeared and exchanging with new arrivals, the event had everything from an international “open day”. A festive way to launch the university year 2025-2026 and to initiate, above all, the first-year students with the three major specialties that this campus brings together, namely medicine, pharmacy and dental medicine.
“It’s very nice, it feels like really entering academic life,” said Independent youngLyna, new student, discovering the amphitheatres of the vast site. Others share the same enthusiasm, although certain concerns are already reflected, especially around the use of English. “The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research tells us that it is optional, but the teachers announce that certain courses, especially in computer science or other, will be provided in English … For the moment, we do not understand much,” said a first-year student.
If the atmosphere of the inaugural day wanted to be relaxed, the oldest reminds that the daily life of the medical sciences is much more demanding. “The lessons have not yet started, but as every year, the program is overloaded, it is a lot of work. Last year, with the strike that lasted more than one quarter, we had to catch up in accelerated, it was very intense! “Said Riad, a fifth year of medicine student. “We are still waiting for the application of concrete and lasting solutions,” adds his comrade Wail. It should be noted that, according to them, for fear of seeing their journey marked by a white year, the students joined the benches of the university.
These dispute movements, let us remember, deeply marked the previous academic year. The National Caucus of Students in Medical Sciences had initiated an open strike, in October 2024, to denounce the repeated shortcomings in their training, among others the lack of practical internships, the absence of an internship notebook dedicated to the internal doctor in seventh year, the difficult conditions, the residat, etc. To this are added persistent claims around the recognition of diplomas frozen by the authorities, to limit the exodus of doctors abroad, as well as the amount deemed derisory of the scholarships allocated to the interns.
For many students, concern goes beyond the university framework. These are the professional prospects that count. “We are formed, but behind, we are not sure to find a position. This disparity between the hints of hospitals and the number of trained doctors creates a climate of fear. Me, I am easily afraid of being unemployed after so many years of study and sacrifices, ”testified Mourad, student in fifth year of medicine.
As a reminder, the announcement of an automatic exclusion of three years in the event of abandonment of posts has also rekindled tensions, perceived as a punitive measure which only makes the blockage worsen.
According to the ministry’s press release, the implementation of article 9 – relating to the registration conditions for the training phase in medical specialty – has been suspended. This decision comes pending a revision of the text, which will be carried out with the participation of students’ representatives. It follows the meeting initiated in December 2024 by the Minister Baddari, bringing together the deans of the faculties as well as the representatives of the students of the three medical sectors: medicine, pharmacy and dental surgery.
The Ministry of Higher Education, in coordination with other government actors, has tried to provide answers to the crisis by putting in place several measures, including the lifting of the frost measurement, the increase in the number of residnat and the stock market posts, as well as the reduction in the number of students admitted to medical sciences this year … However, these provisions remain considered by the students interviewed as being, for some, even ” deemed “insufficient”.
Moreover, for future doctors, the problem remains whole, they wonder about their future in a national health system in suffering, according to them, where beyond the spectrum of unemployment, working conditions are extremely difficult.