«Leave what is working alone»: MP Kiseliova criticises reorganisation of hospitals in Mykolaiv

Olena Kiseliova, the head of the deputy commission on legality of the Mykolaiv City Council, a deputy from «European Solidarity», has expressed strong criticism of plans to reorganise the city's medical network.

During a meeting of the commission held on 16 May, Kiseliova said that the merger of hospitals causes concern among labour collectives and creates additional social tension during the war, NikVesti.

As you know, the Mykolaiv Health Department has come up with an initiative to reduce the number of hospitals in the city from six to three by merging them. In addition to merging hospitals, the reform will also include Maternity Hospital №3, which, unlike other maternity hospitals in the city that were merged with hospitals last year and became departments, remained an independent legal entity.

• The ambulance hospital and hospital №4 are to be merged with hospital No. 1;
• Maternity Hospital №3 and Children's Hospital №2 — to Hospital №3 (Dubky);
• Hospital №5 (Korabelnyi district) will not be affected by the reform.

During the commission meeting, Iryna Shamrai, head of the Mykolaiv Health Department, explained that the need to reorganise and merge large hospitals in Mykolaiv this year was due to the requirements of the National Health Service of Ukraine to provide full funding for medical services.

«Why disturb labour collectives in times of war? The city is working, the institutions are working, they are capable. I would like to say: don't do «to make it better» — leave «to make it good», said Olena Kiseleva.

According to her, some medical institutions have already held meetings on the establishment of liquidation commissions, although the official decision of the council has not yet been made. This, according to the MP, causes employees to feel pressure and violates the independence of municipal non-profit enterprises.

«Why do we have such a «soviet» dictatorship, where everything is either taken away and divided, or merged, united and divided? Why is there such an unfair attitude towards an independent legal entity with its own staff, microclimate, and situations? It happens that they are independent only on paper. But they are not just dependent, they are constantly interfered with, told to do something... They are not treated as equals, but simply as those who create and generate a product in the form of services. Now they have started to do it not just in the form of services, they generate money. And this money is considered the money of the labour collective, not even the community. Because as enterprises they receive income, and then, according to the current legislation, they work with this income as enterprises: reports, taxes, salaries,» said Olena Kiseliova.

Olena Kiselyova, deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council, is against the merger of hospitals, archive photo by NikVesti

The deputy also questioned the feasibility of changes during martial law, stressing the stable operation of hospitals, the absence of scandals and financial problems.

«The medical network of Mykolaiv is not actually maintained at the expense of the local budget, except for the payment of utilities. So why interfere with something that works effectively?» said the MP.

Olena Kiseliova quoted the Cabinet of Ministers' resolution on the formation of a capable network of medical institutions, which states that Mykolaiv region, as one of the frontline regions, may submit proposals for reform to the Cabinet of Ministers within six months after the end of martial law.

«The legislator draws our attention to the fact that there may be some specifics of activity or other nuances that either make it impossible or simply not the best period to take any truly revolutionary actions during martial law. Perhaps we should have waited,» said Kiseliova.

Optimisation of maternity hospitals in Mykolaiv

As you know, in May 2023, the city authorities in Mykolaiv began to study the issue of merging maternity hospitals. The number of births in the city was declining. On 31 July 2023, the Mykolaiv City Council decided to reorganise maternity hospitals №1 and №2, merging them into City Hospital №1 and City Hospital №3, respectively. The head of the city health department, Iryna Shamrai, explaining the need to reorganise medical facilities, stated that over the past 7 years, the number of pregnant women in Mykolaiv had decreased by 5 times.

Due to the actual liquidation of Maternity Hospital №2 in Mykolaiv, 42 people were laid off. The staff of Maternity Hospital №2 called the decision of the city authorities to actually liquidate and preserve only one specialised medical facility in the city a mistake.

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Reduction of polyclinics in Mykolaiv

The idea to reduce primary healthcare centres became known in early June 2024. By order of the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, a working group was set up to audit their economic efficiency. The head of the city health department, Iryna Shamrai, told NikVesti that seven primary healthcare centres in Mykolaiv were to be reorganised on behalf of the National Health Service and the Ministry of Health. However, the NHSU reported NikVesti that they did not give recommendations on «optimisation» of polyclinics, and the Ministry of Health assured that this idea was a local initiative, not a recommendation. Later, the mayor of Mykolaiv explained in a video message to the citizens that the cuts would not affect doctors, only administrative staff.

At the time, the city council members did not support this initiative, and later the Secretary of the Mykolaiv City Council, Dmytro Falko, said that the number of primary healthcare centres would be reduced in 2025.