Overview

• The draft law targets faster entry into the workforce for foreign‑trained physicians, dentists, pharmacists and midwives.
• Recognition procedures would be standardized, digitalized and stripped of bureaucracy to shorten processing times.
• Health Minister Nina Warken called the step a response to staffing shortages and said standards for patient safety and care quality will remain intact.
• Chancellor Friedrich Merz said simplifying recognition should help bring needed professionals on board quickly.
• Context from medical authorities shows 68,000 practicing doctors lack German citizenship and more than 15% of all physicians hold a foreign passport.