Posted: 07.06.2023 10:15:00

Belarusian medicine is under close control

The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, has signed a decree 
‘On Improving the Efficiency of the Healthcare System’ on June 2nd


BELTA

Following the government conference held on May 23rd, 2023, the Head of State gave specific instructions to streamline healthcare institutions at all levels, to create conditions for the provision of high-quality medical care to the population and to pay special attention to rural communities.
The chairmen of local authorities shall be personally responsible for the sanitary and engineering status of buildings and structures of healthcare institutions.
The Healthcare Ministry shall revise the regulatory legal acts regulating medical and pharmaceutical activities, the provision of paid medical services, taking into account law enforcement practice.
Under the document, medical institutions need to adjust medical examination procedures, and to reduce the waiting period for high-tech surgical interventions and diagnostic tests.
Additional measures are needed to address the problem of shortage of medics, especially in rural areas, improve the quality of their training and retention in the workplace. 
The procedure for payroll calculation for medical workers will be revised with an increase in the share of the official salary.
Instructions have been given to ensure the development of new medicines, to increase production and expand the range of domestic medicines, and to improve the management system of the pharmaceutical industry.
The interdepartmental working group, set up by the President, will continue auditing the healthcare system until the end of the year, including the monitoring of solutions to the identified problematic issues.
Reports on the results of this work will be submitted to the Head of State in January 2024.

BELTA

A recent meeting with the President on topical health issues caused a great public outcry. Indeed, the healthcare system has been successfully built in Belarus as a whole. Belarusian doctors adequately coped with the COVID-19 pandemic. Belarus looks worthy in various international rankings. Our flagships are republican scientific and practical centres, large clinics, equipped at a state-of-the-art level. But this is not a reason to turn a blind eye to problems and shortcomings. And there are still a lot of them, as evidenced by complaints from the population. On behalf of the Head of State, an independent interdepartmental working group was formed for a large-scale check of the state of affairs in the industry. Specialists travelled all over the country and identified many problems: huge queues for some operations, unavailability of highly qualified assistance, idleness of expensive equipment, gaps in personnel training, and even non-compliance with elementary sanitary rules. At the meeting, Aleksandr Lukashenko reacted extremely harshly to all the facts presented and instructed to eliminate all shortcomings and restore iron rule as soon as possible:
“As a result, a week later I have a document on my desk — either a decree, or a protocol of instructions. Gather a transcript of everything that was said. Everything must be written down. January 1st next year is deadline. All the shortcomings that have been discussed here must be eliminated by January 1st. The President must sign a document obliging everyone — from the government to the village first-aid station,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed, summing up the results of the meeting.
The decree ‘On Improving the Efficiency of the Healthcare System’ became such a document. 
Coordination of work on the implementation of the adopted decisions is entrusted to Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Igor Petrishenko. President’s Aide Aleksandr Kosinets was instructed to take personal control over the accreditation of state healthcare organisations and analyse the effectiveness of medical universities. Control over the implementation of the instructions of the President will be carried out by the State Control Committee and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, will convene a large meeting on healthcare in January 2024 (after the New Year and Christmas holidays).
Taking into account the instruction to restore order in the industry by January 1st and solve all the accumulated problems, the demand at the upcoming large-scale meeting will be from each item.
The press service of the Head of the Belarusian State emphasised, “As for the signed decree, the most serious control over the course of its implementation will be organised. The President draws attention to the fact that the shortcomings must be eliminated right now." 
It was noted that very serious work should be organised without waiting for December.

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by