In Mykolaiv, complaints from medical staff regarding salary issues following the merger of hospitals will be investigated

In Mykolaiv, complaints from medical staff regarding salary issues following the merger of hospitals will be investigated. Illustrative photo from the NikVesti archive

In Mykolaiv, the health department will investigate reports of problems with the payment of salaries, holiday pay and the provision of resources to hospitals following their merger. The relevant directive was issued by the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych.

This was discussed during a session of the Mykolaiv City Council on 1 September, according to NikVesti.

Fedir Panchenko, a councillor from the «Propozytsia» party, appealed to the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, asking him to investigate the situation in the merged hospitals.

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According to him, medical staff are complaining about problems with the payment of salaries, holidays, small advances and the provision of necessary supplies to hospitals. These problems, the councillor said, are directly linked to the process of merging healthcare facilities.

«We voted in favour of the merger not to create problems, but rather to resolve them. I therefore ask that the Department of Health be instructed to look into this situation and verify this information. I also request that they be invited to the next session to inform us of the current state of affairs and whether this is indeed the case. Whether everything is in order there,» said Fedir Panchenko.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych instructed the Head of the Health Department, Iryna Shamrai, to prepare a report on the situation.

He asked that she not wait until the next session but provide councillors as soon as possible with data on the payment of salaries and holiday pay, as well as on the progress of the hospital merger.

Meanwhile, Olena Kiseliova, leader of the «European Solidarity» faction in the city council, noted that the reorganisation of medical facilities has not yet been completed. According to her, staff have already been transferred to the fourth hospital, but sufficient financial support to cover their pay has not been provided.

«I won’t give anything away, as they say, but I did tell you so. However, let’s hear what the situation actually is. I don’t see it as particularly optimistic over the next three months. But let’s look at the information in more detail, because the reorganisation process is not yet complete. We have embarked on a long-term reorganisation, and as of 1 September, only the staff had been transferred to the Fourth Hospital, but without the financial support needed for their salaries,» said Olena Kiseliova.

As a reminder, in April, members of the Mykolaiv City Council backed a decision to reorganise the city’s healthcare network, which involves the creation of a cluster hospital and the transfer of one of the maternity hospitals to the region’s ownership.

Under the decision, City Hospitals №1 and №2, and the Emergency Medical Care Hospital (EMCH), are to be merged with City Hospital №4.

In addition, councillors approved the transfer of Maternity Hospital №3 to the ownership of the region. The facility is set to be merged with the Regional Clinical Hospital, which is located nearby.

Furthermore, a preliminary draft of a sustainable hospital network was presented to the Mykolaiv Regional Council. The document provides for the classification of hospitals into super-cluster, cluster, general and community hospitals, depending on their capacity, population size, range of medical services, equipment and staffing levels.