Belarus Needs Thousands of Doctors, but the Government Has Zero Respect for Them

The country is faced with a huge shortage of medical personnel.

"If you left, you can't come back; you will work there and earn the big money you left for," Aliaksandr Lukashenka said in early November.

This message is for doctors who leave to work abroad.

Today in Belarus, thousands of medical workers are required, but the authorities have not yet used any methods to solve the problem except threats.

Euroradio has studied which medical workers are being sought in Belarus and for what money.

Only 20% of vacancies are for a salary of 1000 rubles

As of November 10, 2753 vacancies were registered in Belarus for specialist doctors and about 300 more - for medical assistants [for example, paramedics. - Euroradio].

Many medical institutions are not looking for full-time doctors. For example, in the agro-town Mirny, a doctor is required for a 0.15 rate for a rehabilitation center. Salary - from 65 rubles. Per month.

The hospital in Homel needs a rheumatologist for a quarter of the rate. The promised income is from 93.75 rubles.

Often, even for the full-time, they offer a salary of about the minimum: about 375 rubles, including for specialists in small clinics or hospitals in regional centers.

Approximately every fifth vacancy promises a salary of 1000 rubles, over 1.5 thousand - every 52nd (!).

Judging by the distribution of vacancies, there is a great shortage of doctors in the Brest and Homel regions, as well as in Minsk.

In addition, Belarus needs almost three thousand nurses (a salary of 1000 rubles is offered only in one place) and a little less than two thousand orderlies (maximum - 600 rubles). Thus, the total shortage of medical personnel at all levels is a little less than eight thousand.

"Six years of study, and the salary is less than at the factory"

As the doctor of one of the hospitals in Vitsebsk Uladzislau (name changed at the request of the interlocutor) explains to reporters, he personally does not feel an acute shortage of colleagues, although he recognizes the shortage of nurses, especially in intensive care units.

"Many acquaintances, classmates left to work in Russia, even before the pandemic because, despite all the criticism of Russian medicine, salaries there, even in small towns, are significantly higher. If in Russia it was said that a doctor should receive 200% of the average salary in the region, then we have declared a salary of 80% of the production sector. Moreover, this is the average salary for the number of doctors, despite the number of rates they take, "says Uladzislau.

Most doctors, he notes, work for one and a half or more rates. This is the only way to get more or less normal income.

"That is, a doctor who studied for six years at the university, spent a year in an internship and continued to study for many years during practice, must work one and a half times more and receive a salary less than a factory worker with a secondary education," adds the doctor.

According to Uladzislau, there are not enough nurses because of low salaries, hard work, and frequent night shifts. And he gives an example: a surgeon of the highest category can earn 1,500 rubles, the second or no category - about 1,200, and a doctor of a therapeutic profile - up to 1,200. And this is for the same one and a half rates. That is, when working in a regular schedule, income is much lower.

The recent attempt to solve the problem with the level of salaries of doctors and other state employees - the decree of Aliaksandr Lukashenka - Uladzislau assesses negatively: "He did not improve the salary situation, and in some cases even worsened it."

"During the pandemic, work has changed dramatically. The workload has become colossal; older doctors and nurses, fearing getting sick, have switched to work that is not related to infection or retire. It is not so easy to receive the promised covid copayments. Each case must be confirmed; for this, it is necessary to perform tests for covid, and they may be absent or prohibited by the management. In addition, the tests do not have sufficient sensitivity, and even in the obvious cases when members of the same family come with the same symptoms, in one case, they give a positive result; in another case - a negative result. The patient is considered covid (for copayments) not from the moment of illness or admission to the hospital or clinic, but from the moment of performing the test. If the patient arrives on Saturday, the test for organizational reasons is done on Monday, and the result is positive - copayments will be made only from Monday, that is, ambulance doctors allegedly did not work with the covid on Saturday and Sunday,"- explains the doctor.

There are other mechanisms, how to "cheat" and cut additional payments, Uladzislau adds:

"Such tricks with honestly earned additional payments have increased the distrust of doctors towards the Ministry of Health, and now everyone is waiting for the additional payments to be suddenly removed. In such a case, many acquaintances have already fulfilled all the necessary conditions for confirming their diploma in Russia so that they can quickly leave."

According to Uladzislau, the threat to close the borders for doctors will not stop specialists from emigrating.

"There are examples when doctors left for the Moscow region or small towns near St. Petersburg and, after several years, built housing in Moscow or St. Petersburg itself," the doctor notes.