Aleksandr Khodzhayev. An archive photo
MINSK, 15 June (BelTA) – Belarusian Healthcare Minister Aleksandr Khodzhayev explained what tasks the country’s healthcare system has to accomplish in an interview with the TV channel Belarus One, BelTA has learned.
Asked what accomplishments the Healthcare Ministry can boast about on Medical Workers’ Day, Aleksandr Khodzhayev remarked: “All our accomplishments are the health and the longevity of life of our people. At present we have about 315,000 positions in the healthcare system. It is a colossal number of natural persons, who work in this system. Those are certainly doctors and nurses. I’d like to use the occasion to tell every one of them: I congratulate you on our professional holiday, I thank you for your work.”
Speaking about tasks for the healthcare system, the healthcare minister noted that those include the provision of medications, the provision of quality and accessible aid at all levels – in the countryside, in towns and cities, in small districts. “62% of the medications made in the Republic of Belarus cost no more than the equivalent of $2. Of the 62% (if we consider them as 100%) 32% cost less than $1. There are districts and villages populated by a small number of people. We use mobile solutions to deliver medications to them. Primarily those they can use. I mean instead of people going to a drugstore we use mobile vehicles that act as rural health posts and can sell drugs to people,” Aleksandr Khodzhayev said. “At present 60% of the medications provided to hospitals and available to drugstores are made and are located in the Republic of Belarus. In other words, it is our pharmaceutical security. We intend to raise the percentage to 70% this year. We pour maximum effort into it and I am convinced we will achieve this result.”
According to Aleksandr Khodzhayev, at present the healthcare system has new, up-to-date, high-tech equipment. A lot of attention is paid to keeping the physical infrastructure up to date, to developing information technologies in the healthcare system.
The healthcare minister also noted that about 160,000 foreign citizens enjoyed Belarusian healthcare last year in the format of the export of services. “It is a significant figure. We are talking about 159 countries, which citizens have been able to receive aid in our country. What does it mean? It means the healthcare system is known in other countries as far as its quality and efficiency are concerned,” he stressed.
Speaking about personnel retention in the healthcare system, Aleksandr Khodzhayev mentioned a number of steps that help retain personnel. “Certainly, we keep wages relevant. But it is not the most important factor for workers of the healthcare system. And it has been accomplished partially thanks to the president, who, after COVID-19 was over, gave instructions to provide the wages medics had during the COVID-19 pandemic. Certainly, the second factor is the working conditions of our medics. The existing social opportunities and, of course, housing opportunities. We understand perfectly well that rental housing plays a very important role, too. The decree signed by the head of state also stimulates our employees to acquire this housing after a certain period of time, provided they work well and stay to live in this territory,” the healthcare minister added.
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