As of May 8, only health care workers in Poltava Oblast, out of all 24 Ukrainian oblasts, fully received extra payments in their March salaries, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said during an online briefing on May 11.
Stepanov reported that every Poltava health care worker engaged in the treatment of COVID-19 patients received on average around $780, or triple, their regular salaries promised by the government.
“We will investigate what is happening in other oblasts,” said Stepanov, who noted that he will report about this situation to President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmygal. “I am sure that we will bring this to an end and all our medical staff will receive their salaries with extra payments.”
Two days earlier, Stepanov said that three oblasts – Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kherson – did not report on extra payment for medical staff at all.
The health minister called some reports absurd. For example, officials from Kharkiv Oblast reported about only 17 medical workers who were engaged in the treatment of four patients with COVID-19 disease in March. According to the report, the total amount of paid extra money for medical workers was a paltry $550, or $32, for each.
“The same situation is happening in other oblasts,” said Stepanov, who previously reported that the necessary $6.7 million for extra March payments for country’s medical workers had already been allocated to local budgets by April 15.
Currently, Ukrainian doctors battling the pandemic have salaries that are among the lowest in the world.
On average, a Ukrainian doctor in a public hospital receives a modest $270 per month, which is almost two times less than the average salary in the country. Moreover, medical workers often complain that they have even lower wages. To compare, in Germany doctors receive 27 times more, in Singapore 30 times more; and in the U.S., doctors receive more than 60 times more than Ukraine’s doctors do.
On May 6, Zelensky ordered the heads of regional state administrations to fully pay all these debts to doctors. Otherwise, they will be fired or lose salaries.
“I understand that children might watch my message, and, unfortunately, I cannot say all the words that these officials deserve,” he said.
Protests by health workers are erupting more across Ukraine over the poor salaries and lack of protective equipment.
In Kyiv alone, 50 medical doctors and nurses protested on May 4 because their hospital had been excluded from the pandemic payments. With salaries ranging from $110 to $150 monthly, medical staff refused to continue working. They got only $37 from the Kyiv authorities.
“We want to speak about us as people who deserve respect,” said Dr. Vitaliy Cherkashyn during another medical protest in Kyiv on May 6, Ukrinform reported.
According to the Health Ministry, medical workers who have not received the promised additional payments yet should call the governmental hotline 0 800 505 201.
