Experts about luring away Belarusian doctors
The topic of how Poland and other western countries are trying to cope with the shortage of health workers by poaching specialists from Belarus was discussed on the ONT TV channel
Director of the Actual Concept information and educational institution Aleksandr Shpakovsky said, “How did our opponents and some neighbouring countries behave regarding our country’s healthcare sector during the pandemic? In 2020, targeted actions were carried out aiming to decompose and collapse the healthcare system in Belarus. Specialised information resources were created that put pressure on medical staff, spreading fake and compromising information regarding the leadership and our state policy. Special programmes were created to poach personnel.
“They are still working,” added Yelena Bogdan, Chairperson of the Healthcare Committee of the Minsk City Executive Committee. According to her, our specialists are lured away primarily to the neighbouring states: Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.
When asked whether it is true that our highly-qualified specialists, after getting to these countries, often begin to perform work that is much lower than their professional level, Mr. Bogdan confirmed, “It is really so, this is not a myth”.
Speaking on this topic, the Secretary General of the Belarus Red Cross, Dmitry Shevtsov, stressed that, e.g., Poland has faced a shortage of doctors for a very long time.
“As soon as Poland joined the EU, medical staff left from there to Great Britain, Germany, and other highly developed countries,” he said. “Remember, about four years ago, it was decided in Poland that even international recognition of Belarusian diplomas [of doctors on higher education] is not required. The institution itself, which hires a Belarusian doctor, makes a decision whether this diploma is appropriate or not. Poland has sunk so low in the quality of medical care that they are ready to take [to work] anyone. I will now write that I am a professor, I will print it on a colour printer, I will come there, and if no one knows me there, they will take me to work. This is absurd!”
