From September 1, Novocherkassk may be left without emergency medical care

50 drivers (out of 64) of ambulances of Novocherkassk BSMP wrote letters of resignation of their own free will.

They took such a step in order to draw the attention of the authorities - the hospital and the city - to the conditions of their work, which, in their opinion, do not meet sanitary and technical standards. Employees also feel that they are underpaid.

As the drivers said, their work schedule is “a day or three”. During the daily duty, the drivers do not turn the steering wheel all 24 hours, they need somewhere to rest, but according to them, there are no rooms for rest in the garages. Moreover, there are no conditions for taking a shower (in the heat), and in winter for warming up, since the heating did not work.

Also, drivers were no longer given work clothes, and the norms for issuing gasoline were reduced.

• Previously, 40 liters of gasoline were issued for a day of duty, now this norm has been reduced to 30 liters, - says the driver, who introduced himself as Vasily. - This norm assumes that 18 liters of gasoline will be consumed per 100 kilometers. But our cars are old, oil is constantly leaking, fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is no less than 25 liters.

Some of them began to suspect the hospital authorities of underpayment of salaries. The same Vasily says that his monthly earnings are from 9 to 12 thousand rubles (depending on the amount of time worked). But when he turned to the accounting department for a salary certificate (for obtaining a loan from a bank), he was surprised to see that he was paid almost 24 thousand rubles a month. For several days he unsuccessfully tries to get an explanation from the chief accountant (he is still not at the workplace), if he does not receive an explanation from the hospital management, he will contact the prosecutor's office.

The last moment that forced the drivers to move from words of indignation to statements of resignation was the information that one of the repair bases in the city center would be closed.

On August 16, drivers notified the management of the Novocherkassk BSMP about the mass dismissal. On August 19, the hospital management, city and regional authorities drew attention to the drivers. On August 21, Deputy Mayor of the city Elizaveta Zhirkova and Deputy Minister of Regional Health Stanislav Besedovsky met with them. The commission came to the conclusion that the hospital authorities were partially to blame for the current situation - they did not take measures to repair repair bases and garages. It was decided that the renovation would begin in 2014.

The authorities also promised to solve the problem of lack of spare parts for car repairs and provide drivers with overalls. And they promised a salary increase of 1,700 rubles. In response, the authorities expect workers to rescind their layoffs.

According to Yury Semin, chief physician of the emergency hospital in Novocherkassk, up to 15 ambulances are on daily duty in the city of 160,000. The ambulance workers, according to the head physician, keep within the time limits for reaching the addresses from which calls are received. If some of the drivers still quit, then the waiting time for the ambulance will increase.

• To prevent this from happening, we are negotiating with drivers, finding mutual understanding, - said the head physician of the Novocherkassk emergency hospital in a telephone conversation. - Many are already withdrawing their resignations.

At the same time, there remains a certain number of drivers who agree to withdraw applications only after they see specific actions (at least the same spare parts and overalls). In the meantime, these people are finalizing the two weeks required by labor law, after which they can actually quit.