Aleksandr Khodzhayev
MINSK, 25 January (BelTA) – The face and the heart of the healthcare system should be turned towards the people, BelTA learned from the newly appointed Belarusian Healthcare Minister Aleksandr Khodzhayev.
Aleksandr Khodzhayev said: “The face and the heart of the [healthcare] system should be directed towards the people. When I say ‘the face’, I mean the system’s professional personnel, physical infrastructure, and other resources. By saying ‘the heart’, I mean the empathy, the compassion that the Belarusian nation has always been known for.”
In his words, the tasks outlined by the president during the appointment process include continued efforts to address the drawbacks previously identified by a monitoring group and continuously identified by the Prosecutor General’s Office and other government agencies. “Another key task set by the president is making sure that quality medical aid is available to all the residents of Belarus, including in the countryside. The president noted that a lot had been done in this area but the matter still requires close attention and a more thorough approach,” Aleksandr Khodzhayev noted.
In his opinion, the informatization of the healthcare system remains a pressing problem. Informatization will allow eliminating certain red-tape practices relating to document management. This is why close attention will be paid to the IT platform, which is being developed now partially for the sake of reducing the number of documents healthcare professionals have to fill in on a daily basis. “Informatization allows us to more effectively use the human resources that are available in sufficient amounts in Belarus,” Aleksandr Khodzhayev stressed.
Speaking about the training of young specialists and efforts to encourage them to keep doing their jobs, Aleksandr Khodzhayev stressed that a doctor is first and foremost a life’s calling. This is why young specialists should demonstrate understanding and commitment towards the area of work they have been entrusted with. “If a person has to go and work in the countryside after graduation, then he or she should work there. It means that needs of this territory are a priority now,” the official said.
Speaking about the correction of shortcomings previously revealed by the monitoring group, in particular, the competence of medics on the ground, the healthcare minister noted that the matter requires a systemic approach. “It is determined not only by regulatory documents and orders of the Healthcare Ministry. It is also determined by performance discipline on the ground. Every department head, head physician, chief specialist in a region should have honest, fair analytical information about why these things happen,” Aleksandr Khodzhayev explained.
