“Doctors Are Smart People”. The Doctor Cuts Lukashenka to Size

Every time speaking of medicine, the Belarusian dictator makes it to a scandal.

It happened on Friday, December 13. Lukashenka addressed students and teachers of the medical university in Minsk.

Charter97.org talked to Alena Tsereshkova, a professional doctor, an activist of the European Belarus civil campaign, about the acute problems of the Belarusian medicine the dictator failed to hide.

- Why has Lukashenka decided to address medical students? Did he have to admit a personnel crisis in the health care sector, or do years and health state make doctors interlocutors No1?

- It is not the first time when Lukashenka visits the Belarusian State Medical University, although the previous time, indeed, was quite a long time ago.

I think there are several factors.

First of all, many medical students plan their careers abroad. Having a good education (and many European countries believe that Belarusian medical education is good enough), they can expect a good job there. And this is the opinion of medical practitioners, who have already gone abroad. They say it is better to graduate from our university and then go abroad. Thus, young people see education as a stepping stone to move abroad. When there are conditions for the recognition of the diploma, as promised by Poland, it will be even easier to find a job. Future doctors are quite an active part of the population and there is a risk that medical students will make up a significant part of the population outflow.

But there is another problem here. The state youth policy in Belarus turned to be a failure because people perceive the BRYU as fiction or as some kind of forced act. All these "pioneer organizations", which are artificially created in schools, find no support even among the teaching staff. Teachers have repeatedly said that "I can't invite students to join an organization, the goals of which are not clear even to me". Thus, Lukashenka tries to personally "close the embrasure", which arose in the youth policy because of the state lies, coercion and other political features of our authorities. It looks as funny and clumsy as everything he does, trying to solve the problem on his own. "I will come, solve everything and everything will be fine," he plays on repeat. But in fact, this scheme used to have weak points before, but now, I think, it doesn't work at all. We see more and more young people on the streets, precisely because young people want a clear alternative and changes in the state.

When I was graduating from medical university, it was time when Lukashenka had just been elected "president". Since then, a generation of students has grown up. They have never seen any other power in Belarus. They understand that this should not be like this. Medical students are smart people. It's not easy to enter a medical university. They know much not only about their disciplines, they understand how the state works.

This power cannot satisfy any person with intellect. Actions of this person are unlikely to bear any fruits and achieve the goals that Lukashenka may have set for himself.

- Speaking about the outflow of doctors abroad, Lukashenka said that he "spoiled people," and we should follow the West in this case, where a general practitioner allegedly "works round the clock and is snowed under work". Is it true? Is the life of a European doctor so hard compared to that of a Belarusian doctor?

- In Italy, doctors do not know at all what working hours mean. To be more precise, there are some hours a doctor should spend in a clinic, and they are recorded on his electronic card. However, no one cares when a doctor comes to or leaves a workplace. If patients get well and services are of high quality, he can manage his working hours on his own. For example, starting work in the operating room at 7 a.m., Italian doctors leave work at noon.

Now let's look at our doctors who come to a hospital at 8 a.m, leave the operating room at 4 p.m., leave the office at 6 p.m. and go to a second job. Do you feel the difference? The only difference is the number of working hours a day, not to mention the financial reward. Therefore, Lukashenka's words are just another trick of state propaganda.

As for general practitioners, each reform of education ends up with less qualified specialists. I don't know why we build a coffee grinder and eventually produce a machine gun. However, I suspect that it is about manual control.

General practitioners are very good. It was a brilliant idea to bring doctors closer to the population and make an appointment directly in the multi-storey buildings: to allocate a room where a doctor could supervise several neighbouring houses for several hours a day to have no problems with access to the clinic.

As always, the state will control it and assign five inspectors for each doctor. The desire for power to control everything will slow down any progressive endeavours. The authorities do not trust doctors. It does not trust us because it deceives us and expects the same from us.

- The dictator also raised the so-called "clan" issue, having accused doctors of creating "professional dynasties". What could you say about it?

- This topic is not new. It was fought back in the Soviet era. One couldn't have had relatives under your supervision. Somehow it's reasonable. For example, when it's a paramilitary structure, where everyone has to carry out orders with equal efficiency and dedication in an operational environment. In some places, it does not make sense. The Soviet Union fought against this with one hand, and with the other, it stressed that there were, for example, dynasties of workers who worked in one plant and this was considered positive. Therefore, all Lukashenka's statements about clans are just as meaningless as the "struggle" against them in the USSR.

Having parents as doctors, a person comes to medicine more motivated. He takes a more purposeful approach. His parents can tell him what he needs to know, what he will regret if he doesn't swallow it, and even offer books they used to learn the information they lacked in their time, and what teacher is the best to learn this or that thing. The quality of professional education of children from medical families is much higher.

For example, I am not a member of a medical dynasty. I see the difference when I look at friends who have parents as medical practitioners. I sometimes miss what they have had as a child. The family always discusses work, approaches and even attitude towards patients. The dynasty has a completely different approach and one should not make it through making mistakes. They absorb it right in the family. Therefore, I stand for the medical dynasty and clans, not for nepotism. I am against the dynasties of presidents and ministers. Let the dynasties of doctors and teachers exist.

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