Shortage of doctors in the Mykolayiv region: there are no young people, more than a third of positions are vacant

Hospitals in the Mykolaiv region are staffed by only 67% of doctors, whose average age is 55-60 years.

This was announced during the briefing on Monday, August 19, acting Iryna Tkachenko, head of the health care department of the Mykolaiv Oblast, reports NikVesti.

According to her, this year the Department of Health has submitted an application to attract 300 interns. However, in fact, only 82 interns were received, of which 20 are contract employees, and 62 are public employees.

Iryna Tkachenko emphasized that the mechanism for training epidemiologists at the regional level remains incomplete. Despite appeals to the Ministry of Health, there is no base for the training of such specialists in the Mykolaiv region.

«There was not a single infectious disease specialist or epidemiologist among these interns. Still, the training mechanism for epidemiologists has not been worked out. It is precisely with this issue that we asked the Ministry of Health for an explanation regarding the fact that there is no suitable base for training in our region,» she notes.

Acting Iryna Tkachenko, head of the health care department of Mykolaiv RMA. Photo: NikVesti

Acting the head of the health care department of Mykolaiv RMA also noted that since the beginning of the war, a significant number of doctors left the country, and in two years they were able to legalize and socialize abroad. Because of this, their return is unlikely, so the health department relies only on young specialists who have just finished their studies.

«After the start of the war in 2022, a significant number of doctors went abroad, and during these two years, many of them could already be legalized there. Considering the fact that these are quite good specialists from Ukraine, their return is inevitable. We can only count on young people who will actually come and start working from the beginning,» added Iryna Tkachenko.

She added that previously the training of new specialists largely depended on Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and Crimea, of which now only Odesa Medical University remains.

Svitlana Fedorova, deputy of the Mykolaiv Regional Council, reminded that Mykolaiv Black Sea National University named after Peter Mohyla also graduates medical specialists.

«Do you know how many graduates there are today? In 2024, 22 specialists graduated,» Iryna Tkachenko answered.

Earlier, the head of the city's health care department, Iryna Shamrai, noted that many young medical specialists left Mykolaiv due to the war, which caused a shortage of a number of medical specialties in Mykolaiv medical institutions. According to her, primary care doctors have become the most scarce for the city today.

Also, the Ministry of Health (MOH) predicted a shortage of personnel at the global level by 2030. Therefore, they are currently developing strategies to secure the system with employees.