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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Medical Staff Reduction Deadly for Ukrainian Health

1 December, 1998 - 00:00


According to a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers, medical staff
is to be reduced by 5.7% by the end of 1998.

The presidium of the central committee of Health workers trade union
immediately responded with a resolute protest.

The protest has been heard. The social and economic protection department
of the union Lidiya Zhdanova told The Day, "The Minister of Health
has issued an edict suspending execution of his own resolutions, No. 164
of June 17, On Execution of the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution of June
11, 1998, and No. 225 of July 27, On Reducing the Number of Workers of
Organizations Accountable to the Health Ministry.

"In order to stop enforcement of the Cabinet resolution, we turned to
the Constitutional Court through the Parliament's Ombudsman Nina Karpachova.
Our project was supported by the parliamentary committees on social policy
and healthcare, motherhood and childhood."

The union's central committee believes the Cabinet of Ministers' "offensive
on the medicine" is not the last. But they are ready to convert to more
resolute measures in case of "recidivism."

The Day's Note

Over 250,000 medical workers have been laid off in last two years. 502
medical establishments have been closed in Ukraine since 1991, including
26 local and 434 district polyclinics. Despite the law of Ukraine On Priorities
in the Social Development of the Village and Agro-Industrial Complex in
the Nation's Economy, which prohibits closing medical establishments in
rural areas, 108 medical points have been shut down. Meanwhile, morbidity
continues to rise. By comparison with 1990, the number of persons infected
with tuberculosis has increased 1.5 times, syphilis by a factor of 24,
and the number of drug addicts tripled. 741,500 people have been registered
as having cancer and are badly in need of stationary treatment, according
to data from the health workers trade union.

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