In the Donetsk region, mass layoffs of ambulance medics were canceled after media coverage
More than 40 medics at an emergency medical aid substation in the frontline town of Novodonetsk were to be laid off. However, after the publicity and a meeting with doctors, Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said there would be no mass dismissals.
According to the Health Ministry's press service, the leadership of the region's medical sector may be replaced instead.
According to the local newspaper Novini Donbasu, the medical workers had a meeting with Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko and the head of the Donetsk regional state administration, Vadym Filashkin.
At the meeting, the minister said that no one will fire us. At the same time, the director of the Donetsk Region Health Department, the head of the KNP "Centre for Emergency Medical Aid and Disaster Medicine", and the director of the Myrnohrad ambulance station are being dismissed. The Minister also introduced us to the new head of the Donetsk Region Health Department. Thanks to the publicity we won! The truth is out there!, the medical workers said.
Background to the conflict
Earlier, the medics of the substation ambulance in Novodonetsk reported about the intention to lay off more than 40 people. As wrote Socportal, the unit is continuing to evacuate patients to hospitals in other cities.
We worked first in Pokrovsk. From Pokrovsk we were transferred to Udachnoye, then to Dobropillya. And from there - to Novodonetskoye. And all the time the front was 15-20 kilometres away from us, said paramedic Albert, who has worked in the ambulance for more than 40 years.
Medics noted that they serve both civilian and military patients, and the number of calls remains significant.
There are still a lot of residents we serve. Now we go to Kramatorsk, to Dnipro, to Poltava. There are a lot of sick people. People are not less. People stay and children stay. How many heart attacks, strokes we carry. It is absolutely unclear what this reduction is connected with, says Lina, Albert's colleague, a paramedic.
The Medical Rukh "Bud yak Mi" also said that the emergency medical care network in the Donetsk Region should not be cut.
Why could medical staff be fired?
The management of the emergency medical centre explained that the reduction was due to funding. According to Svetlana Ryazantseva, the head of the centre, the institution received minimal funding because of the remaining funds.
The money will be enough until May. I was at the Ministry a fortnight ago, telling about our situation. And this is what I got. I am, of course, "delighted," said the head of the centre.
At the same time, the Health Ministry said that the government is increasing support for medicine in the frontline regions and is working on the stable operation of the emergency service.
The government is consistently increasing support for medicine in the frontline regions. Our task is for people to have access to medical care even in the most difficult conditions, and for doctors to have stable financing and clear guarantees of work. That is why we have introduced a set of solutions: we have increased funding for institutions, changed approaches to payment for services, and introduced additional support mechanisms for those who work under conditions of constant security risks. Already today, these solutions allow the medical system to remain sustainable even near the front line, - assured Viktor Lyashko
The Minister also noted the importance of efficient use of funding and observance of the labour rights of medical workers.
Emergency medical care in the frontline areas is work in conditions of everyday risk. The state has increased funding for "emergency" by raising the base rate and introducing motivational additional payments for workers in the combat zone. It is important that these resources reach medics as efficiently as possible - through timely payments, fair remuneration and proper organisation of the service. This is what we are discussing on the spot together with the regional leadership and the staff, - Viktor Lyashko assured.
After the meeting with the medics of Donetsk region, they said that there would be no mass reduction of employees of the Mirnohrad ambulance station. At the same time, personnel decisions on the management of the sector are expected at the regional level.