Doctors in Belarus are being kept from emigrating by the ruble
The head of the Council of the Republic, Natalia Kochanova, during a visit to one of the leading enterprises in Belarus, heard complaints about the lack of doctors in local medical institutions. She said that the issue was “under control.” Indeed, the authorities are trying to solve the problem of shortage of medical personnel. Salaries for doctors were increased in January, and for secondary medical personnel in February. This was the implementation of Alexander Lukashenko’s instructions to ensure that doctors do not seek high salaries abroad. However, experts believe that the problem is still far from being solved.
Natalia Kochanova, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, visited the Novopolotsk Plant of Technological Metal Structures. Senior officials strive to keep up with the president and regularly communicate with labor collectives. Sometimes they have to hear complaints from citizens. Among other things, Kochanova was asked a question not at all in connection with metal structures, but about the shortage of medical workers: “Is there any plan to staff a new polyclinic in the airport area, because there is a shortage of specialized specialists?”
The head of the parliamentarians weightily replied: “As for personnel and healthcare in general. We have a Republican scientific and practical center that operates throughout the country, and people can receive qualified assistance there. But Polotsk and Novopolotsk are inter–district centers, and, of course, the staffing of doctors here should be serious.”
She added that last year, “residents of Polotsk turned to her with a request that doctors were needed.” And she promised: “57 specialists with higher education will come this year. All possible measures are being taken to staff Polotsk and Novopolotsk with doctors. This issue is under control.”
These questions and answers were published separately in the parliamentary Telegram channel, which is further evidence of the government’s concern about the shortage of medical personnel. During his New Year’s visit to the Minsk Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital, President Alexander Lukashenko once again stressed that he was aware of it and intended to actively address it in the new year.
“We will try to ensure that you work in your native land, and not run around the world in search of a better life,” the head of state promised. And, as always, he noted that there is nothing better than the motherland anyway: “But I am glad that some of your people ran away, and now (I have a pile of material and documents on my desk) they are asking for it back. I ask the question: “So, why is that? What about you? That’s where the salary is, and that’s it.” “No, no, no, no. There is no such healthcare as in Belarus. In the complex, as a whole.”
In the new year, the salaries of Belarusian doctors have indeed been increased again. Recently, the head of the Ministry of Health, Alexander Khodzhaev, said: “We understand that wages play a key role. Paying attention to this, the head of state has never denied the service that we can give the money we earn to those who deserve it.” The Minister stated that since January 1, the supplement for work in the field of healthcare for specialist doctors has increased by 45% of the salary. He also guaranteed that the allowances for medical workers with secondary specialized medical education will be gradually increased by 35% during the year.
“The personnel figures also have a positive trend today. The number of doctors who work in the healthcare system has increased by about 200 people compared to 2023,” Khodjaev said. However, if the figures vary on a national scale by the “order” of two hundred, it is obvious that the problem remains acute.
Independent experts, meanwhile, argue that rising wages cannot solve it completely.
One of the opposition Internet resources found out that in one of the leading state clinics in Belarus, an experienced doctor of the first category earns about 3,500 rubles, including part-time work, about 5,000 rubles. Recall that the Belarusian ruble is currently equal to the Russian 27.66 rubles.
The resource asked Stanislav Solovyov, the deputy representative of the Joint Transitional Cabinet in the field of social policy and the most professional physician, to comment on this salary level.
The expert noted: “If we’re talking about salaries, I’m sorry, in Poland, a doctor with such experience and regalia in a leading clinic, I think he will receive at least 8-10 thousand euros. At the same time, working no more than in Belarus.”
At the same time, the expert notes that socio-political motives cannot be discounted, which for many, even with other things being equal, can become decisive. However, even apart from them, he points out important factors that, so far, according to him, are not in favor of Belarus when compared with some neighboring states.
“Show me a Polish doctor who will work in the meat grinder that takes place in our clinics when 70-80 people go to an appointment. Yes, there are queues for doctors in Poland, but the doctor is not overworked. There was even a case when a person moved from Belarus at a very young age and asks at work what to do, because he has a lot of free time. He’s not used to this,” Solovey says.
Another problem persists in the medicine of Belarus – the required payments do not always reach the recipients. However, the trade unions are constantly fighting against this. Last year, 159 healthcare workers in the Grodno region were awarded 62.1 thousand rubles. “This is the result of the work of our socio-economic service, which conducted more than four dozen monitoring sessions in healthcare organizations throughout the year,” Vladislav Golyak, chairman of the regional organization of the Belarusian Trade Union of Healthcare Workers, said with satisfaction.