Mykolaiv polyclinics to dismiss 23 administrative staff from September

One of the polyclinics in Mykolaiv. Archival photo: NikVesti

Mykolaiv Primary Health Care Centres are planning to lay off 23 staff members of administrative and economic staff starting in September.

This was reported by the head of the Mykolaiv Health Department, Iryna Shamrai, at a meeting of the Mykolaiv City Council's specialised commission on human rights, children, family, legality, and publicity, according to NikVesti.

According to her, the reduction is connected with the optimisation of administrative and economic staff.

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«A board was held to analyse each centre. A meeting was held with the directors of «primary care» on the number of family outpatient clinics, on optimising buildings. As well as on the first of September, the administrative and economic staff will be reduced by 23 full-time equivalents from 01.09, in connection with the analysis they conducted on their administrative and economic staff», said Iryna Shamrai.

She also noted that the reduction will save about 1.1 million by the end of 2025.

«The analysis of funds received from the NHSU is carried out on a monthly basis at the level of the Healthcare Department and the analysis of patient verification (this is the verification of patient data in the Patient Register, — note) To date, it reaches 93 to 95 per cent for all institutions. We have slightly lowered the verification rate — this is the verification of children. But today all institutions have levelled up. Therefore, optimisation by the end of 2025 will allow us to have about 1,135,000 hryvnias in savings in the optimisation of staff positions across all centres,» she added.

The head of the Mykolaiv Health Department noted that the current city programme for the development and support of municipal healthcare facilities and the provision of medical services will be completed by the end of 2025. Instead, the deputies will be presented with a new healthcare development programme for the next three years. It will define the measures to be financed from the city budget. The document is currently being approved.

As a reminder, members of the Mykolaiv City Council's Commission on Human Rights, Children, Family, Legality and Publicity asked the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration to speed up consideration of the issue of creating a capable network of healthcare facilities.

Reducing the staff of Mykolaiv polyclinics

The idea to downsize 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 group includes deputies Serhii Kartsev, Olena Kiseliova, Olena Kuzmina, Oleksandr Medvedev, Hanna Nord, Hanna Remennikova, Yelyzaveta Trischanovych, Vice Mayor Anatolii Petrov, Mayoral Advisor Ivan Smirenskyi, Head of the Municipal Health Department Iryna Shamrai, Director of the Finance Department Vira Sviatelyk, Acting Head of the Municipal Property Department of the City Council Tetiana Dymytrova, and Director of the Legal Department Yevhen Yuzvak.

Recently, in a commentary to NikVesti, the head of the city health department, Iryna Shamrai, said that seven primary healthcare centres in Mykolaiv are to be reorganised on behalf of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

They are to be reduced to two or four institutions. According to Iryna Shamrai, this will save the city budget up to 27 million hryvnias a year.

«Currently, the centre has six outpatient clinics, and there will be 18 outpatient clinics. The second centre has eight outpatient clinics, and there will be 21. I want to tell you that this does not affect the quality in any way, because the funds from the city budget allocated for various needs are still proportionally distributed among patients,» she said.

Later, the mayor of Mykolaiv explained in a video message to the citizens that the cuts would not affect doctors, but administrative staff would be laid off.

«How many people will be fired, how many will be laid off? These are legal entities, of which we have to make 4 out of 7. The number of outpatient clinics will increase by one. How many healthcare workers will be laid off? None. The administrative staff will be reduced. What will this bring to Mykolaiv residents? Saving budget funds on administrative staff salaries,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

At the same time, Mykola Kapatsyna, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council, believes that the health department's proposal to reduce primary healthcare centres is driven by the need to save budget funds.

His colleague, Olena Kiseliova, a deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council elected from the «European Solidarity» party, has an opposite opinion. She called on Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych to abandon the reorganisation of seven primary healthcare centres.

Mykolaiv City Council member Artem Illiuk also criticised the idea of reducing seven primary healthcare centres to two or four, which is motivated by the need to save budget funds.

The head of the «Servant of the People» faction in Mykolaiv City Council, Tetiana Dombrovska, does not support the idea of optimisation either. At the same time, MP and member of the optimisation working group Serhii Kantor declined to comment. He considers it inappropriate to comment on the situation until the working group has completed its analysis.

Ivan Smirenskyi, an advisor to the mayor of Mykolaiv, supported the optimisation of primary healthcare centres. He stated that merging or consolidating a number of institutions into one legal entity is a global practice.

In July 2024, the Secretary of Mykolaiv City Council, Dmytro Falko, said that the number of primary healthcare centres would be reduced and their employees would be laid off in 2025.

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 No. 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 Kiseliova, 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 with 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 №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.