Penza, 15 December 2015. PenzaNews. The young doctors must receive additional financial support to keep them in profession, suggested Mikhail Krasnov, co-chairman of the regional APF branch, head of the regional cardiovascular center, neurosurgeon at the Burdenko clinical hospital, during the roundtable discussion on healthcare field staff shortage in the regional Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, December 15.

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“The average salary [of a doctor] is 32,000 rubles. There are key professionals, one of which I am, that provide cutting-edge medical services (CEMS) firstly using the money from the federal budget. And so we have good bonus pay, good premium, and the key professional who provides enough CEMS can get seven figures. As for the young specialists, they have no job record, no category, they have to work two shifts. We’re throwing them to the frontlines,” Mikhail Krasnov explained.

30 workers of the regional cardiovascular center are under 36, he added.

“They provide medical assistance to patients with strokes and heart attacks 24/7 – they are young guys and girls with people dying on their hands. And they get 12,000-15,000 rubles. Let’s be fully clear and totally frank: we get an average of 32,000 rubles. A key professional can easily earn several hundred rubles per task, while the young ones need support,” Mikhail Krasnov said.

He also added that state medical service can easily lose young professionals who are starting their careers due to more attractive offers by private clinics.

“They practically disqualify themselves from the field, and it will be a very tough task to bring them back. And the pay there… We are not a competition with them. […] But here is where the medical staff support system developed by the Penza region Health Ministry can come in handy. And they were taken as a foundation during the All-Russia People’s Front ‘Action Forum’,” the head of the regional cardiovascular center stressed.

Mikhail Krasnov also noted the proposal to remove age requirements for doctor programs and rectify the issues with the legislation that make a doctor working in the area hospital formally still remain employed in the city, without an additional pay he would be eligible for.

“But apart from the professions in high demand, I think we need to provide material and moral support to the wonderful graduates of the Penza medical institute that go to work in state budget healthcare institutions,” Mikhail Krasnov said, adding that this needs funding from the regional budget.

The head of the regional cardiovascular center reminded that a medicine major studies for 6 years and undergo participation in the medical residency program for 2-5 more years.

“That means that a professional neurosurgeon, that will be in enormous demand, will only walk into a medical organization when he becomes 29. He already needs to feed his family by that time. Would a family be able to support a person who needs to study until he is 25 or 29? It won’t be possible without individual subsidies,” the doctor assured.

“We are entering a year when the one-year medical residency and categories disappear as they are replaced by accreditation,” he reminded.

Because of that, according to Mikhail Krasnov, the Penza State University medical institute, and the Institute for additional education for doctors, need support to provide accreditation to specialists, rectifying the need to send them to other regions.

“The budget organizations provide minimal travel expenses, practically nonexistent. Nobody will go there, and we’ll be left without qualified professionals,” he added.

Mikhail Krasnov proposed to fix the issue by using an innovative measure of the medical institute, a trilateral agreement system.

“Free higher education is guaranteed by the Russian Constitution. We won’t be able to change the Constitution. A graduate can freely leave to work in a private organization or even change specialty. Only the trilateral agreement system is an effective contract with fines relative to payouts, will be able to motivate a person to join the distribution network,” suggested the head of the regional cardiovascular center.