Medical secret

Mikhail Zurabov will explain to deputies how to increase salaries for doctors

Today, Minister of Health and Social Development Mikhail Zurabov will make a report to State Duma deputies during the weekly government hour, this time dedicated to the need to increase the level of employment of the Russian population, while simultaneously reducing injuries at work. The minister plans to tell deputies about the new system of remuneration for doctors , which, in his opinion, will be used in practice as early as September, that the minimum wage will reach the subsistence level by the end of 2009, that migrant workers will “ select” according to the degree of usefulness to society, and about many other interesting things. But at the same time, Mr. Zurabov is not sure that the deputies will listen to him attentively enough - during the previous visit of the head of the Ministry of Health and Social Development to Okhotny Ryad, they hissed and shouted at the minister from their seats. Apparently, this is why Mikhail Zurabov decided the night before to voice to journalists a number of truly sensational statements that could today dissolve in the heat of Duma battles.

The minister addressed the first good news to his colleagues. According to him, “already this year the average salary in healthcare will be 20 thousand rubles.” And in 2008, the official salary of doctors in federal clinics will vary from 800 to 1000 dollars. This will be possible thanks to the abandonment of the tariff scale for remuneration of doctors and the introduction of a new flexible system. “In essence, this is a new business model,” the minister explained. According to the Ministry of Health and Social Development, state medical institutions collect 115 billion rubles from the population per year. for the provision of paid services, payment for which is not provided for by the healthcare budget. Mikhail Zurabov’s department proposes to use the lion’s share of these funds directly for the salaries of doctors. Moreover, the heads of federal clinics will pay doctors extra not at their own discretion, but without fail. By the way, medicine can become a testing ground on which a new system will be tested, which can later be extended to the sphere of education and other services, where the state dominates. Considering that the minimum wage (minimum wage) in Russia is constantly growing (from September 1 it is increasing to 2,300 rubles, and two years ago it was only 600 rubles), even more citizens will be able to claim decent salaries.

But, according to Mr. Zurabov, it is impossible to achieve an increase in wages while maintaining the current influx of illegal labor migrants working for pennies and without any guarantees in construction, retail trade and housing. Russians could well be employed in these areas, the minister believes, if salaries were higher. But in our huge country there are entire regions where there really are not enough people, for example, for agricultural work. Migrants could be hired there for a certain time and for certain jobs - as is practiced in European countries. “You need to look at everyone - whether they are needed or not. Trade vodka? Not needed. Trade on the market? Let our people trade! Labor migration must be selective,” said Minister Zurabov.

The Russian authorities have long been planning to direct migration flows to the necessary regions, but so far it has not been possible to establish a “distribution” of guest workers among problem points on the country’s map. But “filtering” migrants from a medical point of view, according to the head of the Ministry of Health and Social Development, is necessary today. The fact is that even formally legalized foreign workers en masse evade mandatory medical examinations and tests. Employers must be forced to comply with sanitary standards, and the state now has the opportunity to do this, Mikhail Zurabov is sure. He will try to convey his confidence in the correctness of the chosen course to the deputies today.

Galina PAPERNAYA