The article presents an analytical picture of the international migration of health personnel. The authors describe medical tourism which is a new and unexplored phenomenon and reveal the interrelation in the movement of health workers and patients. They show that almost all countries experience to some extent staff shortages in the health sector. In the context of massive flows of immigrants from the developing regions to the developed ones the latter are in demand for medical professionals versed in socio-cultural factors of illness and different traditions of treatment. One of the main ways of alleviating the shortage of medical personnel in the global North is to attract such workers from abroad, mainly from the South. Although the emigration of health professionals may have some positive effects for the countries of origin, by and large it sharpens the shortage of medical personnel there and especially in economically backward countries, worsening access of their population to medical care.

Given the objective impossibility to radically reduce the outflow of doctors from such countries at present, mitigating the negative effects of emigration can be reached by limiting the States of the North the recruitment of health personnel from poor countries, providing development assistance for health care, promoting medical education and training of health personnel and expanding circular migration. Such measures should teke into account interests of all participants of the migration process.