Term Of Work Off For Doctors Increased To Five Years In Belarus
- 1.11.2023, 13:42
Lukashenka signed the scandalous "law" on the medical residency.
Doctors entering residency will have to work for at least five years after training, and in case of refusal - to reimburse the cost of training in multiples. These and other changes are stipulated by the new version of the law "On Health Care". The amendments were adopted by the "House of Representatives" in the second reading on September 19, but only now, after approval in the "Council of the Republic" and Lukashenka's signature, the text of the law was officially published on the National Legal Portal. Its main provisions will come into force in three months.
"The law" provides for many changes regarding residency. This is an additional form of training of doctors in Belarus, who have already worked off the work assignment or have at least two years of experience, it is possible to get there by reference from the place of work. By training in residency, doctors improve their qualifications or change their speciality profile. Training takes place at medical universities, university clinics, Republican Scientific and Practical Centres, hospitals and other medical institutions.
According to the new version of the "law", residency will now be free of charge, i.e. at the expense of the budget (paid form - only for foreigners temporarily residing in Belarus). This means that everyone will have to work off after training. And the period of work off is now increased from two years to five - including for part-time students.
The training period itself is also increasing and will be from two to five years (previously it was two years full-time and three part-time for any speciality).
Thus, entering residency will bind the doctor for a period of seven to ten years: two to five years of training and five years of work.
At the same time, serious penalties are imposed for dropping out of training or refusing to serve. This applies to those who have studied both full-time and part-time:
If a physician decides to leave residency or is expelled - including at the initiative of his superiors - he will have to reimburse the costs of his training (previously this was not required);
if a physician after residency refuses to work on assignment or does not work the entire term, he will have to return to the budget the funds spent on his training in 2.5-fold.
In addition, it seems that residency will now be a mandatory condition for admission of doctors to provide specialised and high-tech medical care.
Perhaps, clarifications of the Ministry of Health will still follow on this point. At the moment, residency is an additional stage of postgraduate education, not all doctors take it, more often it is required of applicants for managerial positions. However, it is already compulsory for the dentists to get a narrow speciality - for example, orthodontist.
The innovations will not affect those who have already completed residency or are studying in it now. All new provisions will apply only to those who began training in residency after February 1, 2024, when the main provisions of the law will come into force.
The "law" also provides for other changes: settlement of the issue of university clinics, creation of a new type of medical institutions - centres for rehabilitation of people suffering from addictions, a ban on the use of unregistered medical devices, expansion of the possibility of issuing medicines to patients at the expense of the budget, the possibility for hospitals to send patients' analyses for research abroad, and so on.