Lutsk medical professionals summarized the industry's work over the past year and announced the work plan for the upcoming period. City mayor Anton Kryvytskyi also gave his assessment of the effectiveness of the healthcare sector's work. He thanked the medical professionals for their work, which ensured significant achievements in the industry, addressed existing problems, and outlined prospects for the sector's development. These are three main factors – technical re-equipping of healthcare institutions, internal reorganization of work, and personnel policy.
If we assess the effectiveness of the medical industry, it was achieved not at all through budget funding.
The healthcare sector traditionally accounts for approximately a quarter of total budget expenditures. But the lion's share of these, on average 90%, is directed to salaries and energy costs. And this distribution of funds has been characteristic of all years of independence. If funding for the industry did increase, it was only due to rising salaries and energy costs.
What actually produced the effect was the optimization of the healthcare structure, but not through cutbacks, rather through improvement of internal organization. And secondly – the use of local financial resources – combining city budget funds, sponsors, and citizens – for the development of the industry. Under this scheme, it is possible to additionally accumulate up to 50% of the annual budget of this industry.
For instance, last year over 2.5 million hryvnias were additionally allocated from the reserve fund for the purchase of medical equipment. Through budget and sponsor funds (in a 4 to 1 ratio), capital and routine repairs were carried out in practically every medical institution in the city.
This year, we are additionally allocating 600 thousand hryvnias from the reserve fund for the purchase of medical equipment. In addition, there is an agreement to attract sponsor funds in the amount of 2.5 million hryvnias for the purchase of an ultra-modern diagnostic complex – a magnetic resonance imaging scanner.
The next step concerns the internal organization of work. The introduction of management in healthcare today is no less vital than in the economic sphere. A medical education is no longer considered the primary qualification for the head of a hospital or outpatient clinic. The solution is either to hire professional managers or to master the science of management themselves.
When organizing work, one should focus not on ministerial circulars but on real needs. It is high time to introduce medical sociology. After all, more or less comprehensive data today exists only for a few groups of patients – those with diabetes, epilepsy, acute renal failure, and perhaps tuberculosis. First of all, in outpatient clinics it is essential to track visitor flows. It is worth creating a computer database and using it not only as a means of quantitative accounting but as a tool for analyzing needs. And already in accordance with these needs, form the staff of specialists.
And lastly – personnel. There is a problem with the movement of young personnel. Due to retirement, at least 50 vacancies should appear annually in the city's healthcare institutions, but in reality only a few positions are filled.
At the same time, according to Anton Kryvytskyi, personnel potential is not being utilized sufficiently. There are highly qualified specialists with academic degrees, extensive work experience, and proprietary methods of diagnosis and treatment. Around such specialists, it is worth organizing a local school of medical excellence. And mentorship must be financially supported.
As for appointments to leadership or key positions, this should be done on a competitive basis.