Mykolaiv lacks 136 doctors: almost a third of doctors are retirees

Mykolaiv hospitals are short of 136 doctors - the city is looking for cardiologists, anaesthetists, paediatricians and other specialists.

At the same time, almost a third of the working doctors in Mykolaiv are of retirement age, the head of the city's health department, Iryna Shamrai, said at a briefing on 23 May, according to NikVesti.

She said that currently there are 1110 doctors in the city, with a doctor coverage of about 80% and an average medical staff coverage of 84%.

«Last year, about a thousand appeals were dealt with, but I want to say that we already have a lot of gratitude for the way medical care is provided. It is difficult to live in the reforms, and we do have a problem with staff. Speaking of staff, there is a single vacancy portal of the Ministry of Health where you can go and see: in Mykolaiv, we are ready to hire 136 doctors today. These are specialists who can see, from anywhere in the country, that in Mykolaiv we can, for example, hire an anaesthetist for the emergency hospital or a cardiologist for the first city hospital. We employ 1,110 doctors, of whom 297 — 29% — are of retirement age, and we understand this,» said Iryna Shamrai.

A separate problem is the assignment of interns. Of the 96 young doctors who completed their internships, only 24 remained in municipal healthcare facilities. According to Iryna Shamrai, the problem is the lack of a mechanism that would oblige young professionals to stay in the same medical institutions where they did their internship. However, she said such a mechanism is currently being developed at the state level.

«As of today, 96 interns are undergoing training. Every tenth doctor working in the city's medical facilities is an intern. We are actively working in this direction. But since 1 August 2024, only 24 young specialists have started working. The question arises, why are there 96 interns and only 24 young specialists have started work? There is no mechanism in the country that would oblige an intern to stay to work where he or she has completed an internship. But this mechanism is being formed, and Anatolii Petrov said so. 12 apartments were provided to the city's specialists who started working as young people over the past 6 years. Just yesterday, we settled an intern doctor in a dormitory. It's very much like the first hospital, very good conditions,» she said.

Also, according to her, 26 primary care doctors are currently abroad, they are on leave at their own expense and do not receive salaries.

It is worth noting that in January, Iryna Tkachenko, acting head of the healthcare department of Mykolaiv regional state administration, said that the shortage of medical workers was being reduced by interns who had arrived in Mykolaiv region from other cities.

In general, it is known that hospitals in the Mykolaiv region are staffed by only 67% of doctors, whose average age is 55-60 years.

The head of the city health department, Iryna Shamrai, previously noted that many young medical professionals had left Mykolaiv because of the war, which led to a shortage of a number of medical specialities in Mykolaiv medical institutions. According to her, primary care doctors have become the most scarce in the city today.

The Ministry of Health has also predicted a shortage of staff globally by 2030. Therefore, they are currently developing strategies to provide the system with employees.