MOSCOW, May 28 (Itar-Tass) — Russian new Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said on Monday that lack of doctors was the weakest point in the Russian health care system.
“About 30% of graduates of medical institutions of high learning don’t work in medicine. The rest want to work in the best clinics and hospitals right upon graduation,” Skvortsova told journalists on Monday.
The minister said material and social incentives should be used to solve the personnel problem. She also drew attention to the fact that in conditions when the state no longer provides employment for future graduates who have to look for a job themselves, very few young specialists return to work in their native regions upon graduation.
Skvortsova said that the state should support students of medical institutions of high learning in the first years of study. She also believes that contracts should be signed with graduates to oblige them to work as doctors in their native regions in the first two or three years upon graduation.
Skvortsova said that a national register of medical workers, students of medical institutions of high learning and medical colleges had been created in 2010. She added it was necessary to understand where graduates of medical institutes and colleges work upon their graduation and for how long they work at one place.
“We need to get the real picture,” Skvortsova emphasized.
She also called for upgrading all medical training programs at Russian medical institutions of high learning.
“All educational programs of medical institutions of high learning as well as post-graduate courses will be upgraded. All the teachers will have to undergo professional re-training,” the Russian health minister said. She added that doctors would need additional accreditation for being engaged in certain types of medical activities.
“In fact, it’s going to be an individual permit which will be prolonged and expanded for life. Doctors without permit shouldn’t carry out experiments on humans,” Skvortsova went on to say.
The Russian Health Ministry separated from the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development last week. Neurologist Veronika Skvortsova became Russia’s new health minister. She had been the deputy minister of public health and social development prior to her new appointment.