MINSK, 5 December (BelTA) – We need to take a more balanced approach to the development of infrastructure in education and healthcare, especially given the fact that a lot has already been done on this front in the country. Salaries of workers in these sectors merit an increased attention too, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he heard out a report by Healthcare Minister Dmitry Pinevich, BelTA has learned.
"In terms of medical equipment and development of infrastructure, I ask Natalya Ivanovna [Kochanova] to take this issue under control in the government. Probably, we need to stop building palace-like institutions both in healthcare and in education," the president said.
In the field of education "we need to work to raise the status of teachers," the president said. "The teacher must be a teacher in every sense of the word. We have enough schools. We will not build new schools in every neighborhood. Meanwhile the old schools in the center of Minsk are underrolled. That's okay. We will think over routes and drive kids up to these schools. Those who want to study will find a way to get there," the Belarusian leader said. "in this sector we need to pay more attention to teachers' salaries."
As for the salaries of medical workers, a number of steps have already been taken in this direction on the instruction of the president. For example, the so-called COVID benefits have become part of standard salaries. "This path is the right one," the head of state said.
But we should not stop there, he added. "We need to financially support those who work. Nurses do a lot of work. So do doctors. We need to support them. We also need to ensure there are no shortages [of personnel]," Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized.
As for healthcare institutions, there are few places left in Belarus "with no hospitals at all," the head of state stated. "Very few places. Therefore, we must complete either modernization of the existing hospitals or the construction of new ones in these places," he said.
