The salary of secondary care doctors in Ukraine is currently one of the lowest, which is unacceptable for a civilized country, and even more so in a complicated epidemic situation. This was emphasized by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the traditional conference call on preventing the spread of coronavirus.
The Head of State discussed the possibility of raising the salaries of doctors, nurses and nursing staff working in secondary care (providing specialized medical care) from September 1 this year, until a new payroll system within the medical reform is worked out in 2021.
"Medical reform has not worked for secondary care doctors. Their salaries are meager. Until a new payroll system works in 2021, we will implement an interim solution, and the salaries of our doctors, I am not afraid to say - our heroes today - will increase from September. From the figures provided by the government, I see that we can significantly increase salaries," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
The officials presented the figures they had prepared for the meeting pursuant to the instructions of the President. They are ready to allocate more than UAH 2 billion a month to increase salaries. This will make it possible to increase payments to secondary care doctors up to 70% of their tariff rate, to nurses and nursing staff - by 50% and 25% of the minimum wage respectively.
"The tariff rate of a surgeon today is 5 thousand 87 hryvnias. With allowances, the average salary is about 7 thousand hryvnias. After the increase in September, it will be about 10 thousand 500 hryvnias. This will somehow bring the salaries of secondary care doctors closer to the salaries of family doctors. It is us who must take care of our doctors. I hope that from next year the decision will be even more effective," the President said.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko and Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov added that in case of an agreed increase formula, the average salary of mid-level nursing staff would rise to more than UAH 7,000 and that of junior nursing staff would approach UAH 6,000.
"Specialists are what we are proud of in our medicine. In the conditions of obsolete hospitals, equipment, ultra-low salaries, they heroically save the lives of Ukrainians. For our qualified personnel to be motivated and not to go abroad, the state of Ukraine must take care of them. Raising salaries is the best way to show that we value them,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
The epidemic situation was also discussed at the meeting. The President is concerned about the record number of deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours (31 people). The Head of State was informed that the vast majority of the dead were elderly and had severe comorbidities.