100 applications and 100 rejections: Aaron (27) from Leeuwarden fights for a future in healthcare

While he has a medical degree, working as a doctor is not an option for Aaron. To do this, he must first be BIG registered. “My diploma must be recognized and I must master the Dutch language,” he says in English.

Poku is in the middle of that process, but he doesn’t have time to wait. “I have to earn money and I want to gain practical knowledge and experience of the Dutch healthcare system.” He would accept a job below his level without hesitation, but that also seems impossible. Aaron is rejected again and again.

Back to the beginning.

A great opportunity

When Aaron wanted to continue his studies at university after high school, Ukraine seemed like a great opportunity: the course was well regarded and the costs were relatively low. He seized his opportunity, with the idea of ​​returning to Ghana after his studies.

But during that period his mother becomes ill. She died in 2016. “I only heard that six years later.” In order not to disrupt the focus on his studies, Aaron’s family decided to keep the news about his mother quiet. “Whenever I called my father and asked about my mother, he always assured me that she was doing well. I felt that something was wrong, but I did not dare to ask further questions, for fear of the answer.”

Others went first

When war broke out in Ukraine, Aaron had to flee. He and his friends waited in the cold for hours. “The people who really came from Ukraine came first.” Eventually they managed to flee to Hungary. “I only needed three months to complete my studies, so I wanted to stay local.”

When it turned out not to be safe there either, they fled further to Germany. “But the government did not want us, we were not allowed to work and received no financial support.” They heard about better conditions in the Netherlands through the news and decided to go.

Sick from stress

Once he arrived in the Netherlands, Aaron became ill and all the stress came out. “The emotions and the things I had seen, it was all so stressful.” He can’t think about it. “I don’t want to remember what I saw and experienced there.” Since the war, he has been extra sensitive to noise, which also becomes clear when a cleaning truck drives past. He stops talking for a moment. “I’m sorry!”

For a long time it seemed that Aaron, as a third-country national (people who fled the war from Ukraine, but do not have Ukrainian nationality, ed.), would have to return to Ghana. A stressful period for him. “If there’s one thing I couldn’t handle mentally, it’s going back to that place.”

Short of staff

His lawyer Jane Neslo thought he could help him. She explains: “Because there is a shortage of healthcare professionals, Aaron has been given a work permit. With this permit he can only work in healthcare. I thought healthcare institutions would be eager to hire these people, but we can’t get it done.”

Healthcare institutions find it a difficult target group. “Either it is the language that they have difficulty with, or they wonder why doctors would want to work below their level.” The institutions do not have to pay extra. “They are simply paid for the position they perform.”

Neslo would like to call on healthcare institutions to show more courage. “If I do not get this group of people to work within a few weeks, I will be forced to advise them to withdraw their work permit.”

Upside-down world

What happens then? “Then they will get their asylum status back, they will end up in a COA reception location and they will have to be cared for by the state again. Isn’t that what no one wants?”

To increase his chances, Aaron posted his story on LinkedIn. That story went viral. “New notifications arrived on my phone every second, everyone wants to help.” It gives him hope.

That’s why he’s not worried about his future. “One day I will have a story to tell. The path I walk is complicated, but I am not angry. That’s part of life, I guess. But I feel blessed, something good is coming.”