Mykolaiv City Council's Commission on Property Supports Merger of Mykolaiv Hospitals

The city council's property commission supported the merger of Mykolaiv hospitals. Photo: LSMD archive NikVesti

The deputy city commission on housing and communal property has approved draft decisions on the reorganisation of medical institutions in Mykolaiv. According to the documents, maternity hospital №3 and children's hospital №2 are proposed to be merged with hospital №3, and emergency hospital and hospital №1 with hospital №4.

The decision was made at a meeting of the commission on 20 June, according to NikVesti.

Although these draft decisions were initiated by the healthcare department, they were represented at the commission by Tetiana Dmytrova, deputy head of the municipal property department. The meeting was also attended by the deputy head of the health department, Mykola Berezhnyk, but he did not speak.

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According to her, the merger is necessary to create a capable network of medical facilities in accordance with the recommendations of the National Health Service and changes in legislation. The Cabinet of Ministers' resolution allows for the creation of one cluster hospital per 150,000 people, which means that no more than three such institutions can be created in Mykolaiv.

«In other words, in order to preserve each city healthcare facility, it is advisable to merge several medical institutions. At the same time, the status of separate structural units and the scope of medical services would be preserved. Such a merger is based on the economic analysis of these hospitals conducted by the healthcare department,» said Tetiana Dimitrova.

According to her, there will be no layoffs of doctors, it is only about optimising administrative staff. In addition, the merger will allow the institutions to apply for the status of cluster hospitals in 2026, receive equipment from the Ministry of Health and expand the range of medical services.

«According to the calculations of the authorised body, such a reorganisation may result in an increase in salaries — from 3,000 to 6,000 hryvnias per month, depending on qualifications,» she added.

During the first vote in the commission, the decision was supported by 4 deputies, 1 abstained, which was not enough. MP Iryna Boichenko urged her colleagues not to delay the decision:

«We are delaying this merger, it is inevitable. But the people who are waiting for this amalgamation are not getting paid. That's why I would like to see a vote. I understand our colleague (Olena Shaposhnikova, who works as a doctor at family outpatient clinic № 4), who does not want to, but these hospitals are waiting,» she said.

The MP Olena Shaposhnikova, who was mentioned, said that she was not against the reorganisation:

«Who told you that I abstain? I am in favour of doctors receiving money. I am in favour. This is important,» she said.

After the discussion, the deputies held a second vote — 6 members supported it. The final decision on the reorganisation is to be made by the city council session.

Reorganisation of Mykolaiv hospitals

As you know, Mykolaiv's healthcare 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 №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 provided.

Olena Kiselyova, the head of the deputy commission on legality of the Mykolaiv City Council and a member of the European Solidarity party, expressed strong criticism of the plans to reorganise the city's medical network.

However, on 29 May, members of the Mykolaiv City Council unanimously withdrew the issue of reorganising the city's medical institutions from the session's agenda, as it had not passed the relevant and other commissions.

Therefore, at the next session of the Mykolaiv City Council, which will take place on 26 June, the project to merge Maternity Hospital №3 and Children's Hospital №2 with City Hospital №3 was reintroduced («Dubky»).

In addition, the deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council were offered a new decision to merge the city's medical institutions, and now the first aid station and hospital №1 are proposed to be merged into hospital №4. Previously, it was proposed to merge medical institutions around the first hospital.

Merger of polyclinics

Five out of seven medical centres may also disappear in the city. The decision to be submitted to the city council for consideration involves the merger of five polyclinics with two others — №2 and №3. In particular, polyclinics №1 and №7 are to be merged with centre No. 2, and polyclinics №4, №5, and №6 with centre №3.

At the same time, the staff of Primary Health Care Centre №1 in Mykolaiv appealed to the head of the regional military administration, Vitalii Kim, the mayor of the city, Oleksandr Sienkevych, and the National Health Service to assess the actions of the city health department, which wants to liquidate profitable family outpatient clinics. The doctors report psychological pressure, mass dismissals and devastating consequences of this decision for patients and the city's healthcare system.

Commenting on the doctors' disagreement with the reorganisation, Iryna Shamrai, head of Mykolaiv's healthcare department, reminded that some of the heads of the primary healthcare centres are temporary and may not have the necessary qualifications.

The staff of Primary Healthcare Centre №6 in Mykolaiv also asked not to merge them with other institutions and to allow them to continue working as a separate centre with legal status.

The staff of Primary Healthcare Centre №1 in Mykolaiv also appealed to the mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych and members of the city council to not support the project to reorganise healthcare facilities, which is being put forward for the next session.