Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya held a online call with Belarusian doctors. She expressed her admiration for doctors' solidarity, especially after 5,000 doctors signed an open letter demanding Lukashenka's resignation and new elections. During the conference, the following issues were discussed:
Detentions and arrests
Doctors continue to be subjected to administrative detentions. The conditions of detention are very dependent on different places. Some doctors went through real tortures; some were “lucky” not to face physical abuse. For example, the well-known oncologist Aliaksandr Minich was sentenced to 13 days of administrative detention, even though he is a leading researcher at the Republican Scientific and Practical Center and an indispensable specialist in his hospital.
Doctors may not be able to renew their contracts even after social media posts. This happened to the pediatric orthopedist Rustam from the Republican Scientific and Practical Center of Traumatology and Orthopedics. He had no fines or detentions, but the management decided not to renew the contract after his post on Facebook, where he refuses to provide medical assistance to the security forces. There are known cases, when the prosecutor's office issued an order to report on cases of failure to assist law enforcement officers.
Doctor Artsiom Sarokin, who shared with the TUT.by journalist the details of the diagnosis of the murdered Raman Bandarenka, is now in jail and is a suspect in a criminal investigation. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya thanked the doctors for supporting their colleague with the solidarity action «0 ‰».
COVID-19
The situation in Minsk is tense. Hospitals are running out of beds for patients, although new hospitals are constantly opening/redesigning. The hospital staff is challenged by work overload at their jobs, there is a shortage of oxygen supplies.
Disrupted drug supply is another problem. This is due to the “horrific” legislation in doctors' opinion in the field of government procurement regulation (at least three months pass from the moment when the purchase is prepared, even if the goods and all contracts are available).
Doctors are promised bonuses instead of overtime pay. But even these payments are delayed. To get decent salaries, doctors work two shifts.
New projects
The doctors came up with the idea of an internship program for doctors under the working title «15 days» so that professionals could improve their qualifications in other countries. But due to the pandemic, the program can only be implemented online.
The possibility of introducing telemedicine was also discussed. It would allow doctors to continue their work without leaving the country. An online platform where doctors will be able to conduct online consultations is also under development.
