More than 40% of doctors in Pervomaisk are retirees: community prepares programme to attract young doctors

Pervomaisk is preparing a programme to attract young doctors to the community. Photo for illustration from the archive «NikVesti»

In the Pervomaisk community, local healthcare facilities lack 34 doctors of various specialities. To solve the problem, the city council is preparing to adopt a targeted programme «Medical staff» for 2026-2030.

The relevant draft decision has been published on the website of the Pervomaisk City Council.

According to the community, the number of doctors in Pervomaisk is 31.7 specialists per 10,000 people, which is lower than the average in Ukraine (37.3). The staffing level of regular positions with doctors is only 68%.

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The situation with nursing staff has also deteriorated: from 72.9 employees per 10,000 people in 2021 to 64.3 in 2025.

One of the key problems is that a significant number of doctors are of retirement age. In 2025, 42% of all community doctors were retired: 77 out of 183.

The community is in dire need of doctors in more than these specialities:

• 10 general practitioners — family medicine
• 2 doctors of physical and rehabilitation medicine
• 2 anaesthetists
• 2 cardiologists
• 2 neurologists
• 2 surgeons
• 2 doctors of emergency medicine
• 2 general practitioners
• 1 ophthalmologist, otolaryngologist, narcologist, oncologist, traumatologist, psychiatrist, nephrologist, radiologist, ultrasound doctor, laboratory doctor.

The document notes that young specialists are in no hurry to stay in the community after their internship. In nine years, only 14 out of 50 interns have remained in the workforce. The main reasons are low salaries and lack of housing.

Therefore, the Pervomaisk City Council plans to approve the programme «Medical Personnel» to provide funding to pay for the training of students on request, as well as for allowances for young doctors who will come to work in the community. In addition, it is planned to remove funds for reimbursement of housing rental costs for young professionals and create a housing reserve for doctors.

According to the city council, without staff renewal and support for young professionals, the community's medical system risks not being able to withstand the workload, as some doctors may retire in the coming years.

Shortage of doctors in Mykolaiv Oblast

It should be noted that as of May 2025, Mykolaiv hospitals lacked 136 doctors — the city was looking for cardiologists, anaesthetists, paediatricians and other specialists.

It is worth noting that in January, Iryna Tkachenko, 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.