World Medical Association welcomes decision on burnout

The World Medical Association has given a warm welcome to the decision by the World Health Assembly to classify work related burnout as a problem that influences health status and to include it in the new version of the international code of diseases 

WMA President Dr. Leonid Eidelman said: ‘For too long burnout among physicians has been largely ignored. Emotionally exhausted physicians are a danger to patients and a danger to themselves. The cost in terms of human lives and money is appalling. 

‘The number of suicides among doctors resulting from burnout is a scandal and I hope that the WHO’s new classification will shine a spotlight on this disgraceful situation.

‘I hope that the World Health Assembly’s decision will lead to a new approach that addresses multiple factors including working conditions for physicians around the world’.

The decision to classify burnout in its International Classification of Diseases was taken during the World Health Assembly in Geneva, which closed today (Tuesday).