An action was held in Novosibirsk against mass layoffs of ambulance workers

In Novosibirsk, at least 17 local residents went out on a coordinated picket in support of ambulance workers. Since the end of August, they began to quit en masse after salary reductions due to the cancellation of Covid bonuses.

The action was organized by Novosibirsk communists from the “Red Turn”. Protesters came out with posters in the park near the ambulance station, calling to “prepare a general strike,” to bring up the “situation in the ambulance” for public discussion and to send Governor Andrei Travnikov “to one doctor’s position.” They also called on the Action trade union, which defends the rights of healthcare workers, to pay attention to the problem.

After the cancellation of Covid bonuses, the salaries of ambulance workers decreased by half - to an average of 30 thousand rubles, which is why they were forced to work at one and a half to two times the rate. The lack of personnel, according to medical workers, has led to the fact that patients wait for help for 4-12 hours, resuscitation teams work with two people instead of three, and out of the 160 required teams, 60-70 are working. In total, according to Deputy Minister of Health of the region Lada Shalygina, the city ambulance service now lacks a third of specialists.