Hippocrates’ salary: How much does a family doctor earn after the Reform?
With the implementation of the Primary Care Reform, many hoped for the best, especially doctors. They believed that now they would finally have a decent pay for their titanic work. But whether this is really the case, and whether their hopes came true, Kateryna Stebelska wondered.
The monthly salary of physicians consists of two components: salary (fixed tariff grid, years of service, category, etc.) and advertised allowance for each signed declaration with the patient. But this, in turn, does not mean that the more declarations a family doctor has, the higher the salary, because the size of this allowance is set by each clinic or clinic only individually. Therefore, the amount of the monthly salary can range from 3,700 hryvnias to 14,000 hryvnias. But those who can boast of a salary of 14,000 hryvnias are not so many, and instead the majority still receives the "minimum".
One of the majority is Oksana Pankovyk, a pediatrician and family doctor from Dnipro. With her five years of experience, she received a salary of 3,784 hryvnias in February.
"Almost Europe! This takes away any motivation from both young and experienced doctors! Many doctors simply run away from hospitals in search of a more decent salary. They also go abroad. There is also a trend of mass layoffs in the regions. A doctor after an internship, a doctor who moved to another city, a doctor after a decree - do not deserve a salary of 3700 hryvnias per month! This is work for nothing! ” - says doctor Oksana Pankovyk.
With such a monthly salary, the annual income is about 44,000 hryvnias or 1,500 dollars. By comparison, a medical professional in the Netherlands earns an average of $ 253,000 a year. If this amount is distributed according to the work schedule of his Ukrainian counterpart, it turns out that an hour of his time costs 700 hryvnias. In Australia, doctors receive $ 247,000 a year, and in the United States $ 230,000.
The situation is similar for Oksana Pankovyk from Dnipro and family doctor Maria from Kyiv (the name was changed for ethical reasons because after she posted a photo of herself salary certificates online, she was threatened with dismissal - Ufond ).
“At the polyclinic, my minimum salary as a young specialist is 4,500 hryvnias. There is no system of allowances and bonuses in my clinic. Usually 1-2 thousand hryvnias are added for the New Year and March 8. Sometimes patients can leave a "thank you" - on average it is 50-100 UAH. It costs about UAH 1,000 a month. But lately, few are leaving. Apparently, they believe that our salaries are too high after the medical reform. At the moment I do not have a full set of patients, so I will be charged the minimum wage and allowances for already signed declarations. But payments for declarations do not come to the doctor personally, but to the entire clinic. From this amount, the medical institution itself deducts utilities, taxes and more. What is left is given to the family doctor.The maximum number of doctors in my clinic can earn 7-8 thousand, if he has the highest category and experience. In a private clinic, a doctor earns twice as much in the middle season. Many physicians work two jobs to provide for themselves. I also work for an insurance company. There I have a fixed rate of 8,500 hryvnias, ”says a family doctor from Kyiv.
Why are some doctors at a disadvantage?
The doctor, who has registered as a sole proprietor, receives all the money from the National Health Insurance Fund at his own expense and manages it himself. A doctor who works in a municipal medical institution does not receive money for his card. The funds come to the hospital, and the administration decides what to distribute them: to increase salaries, repairs or equipment. The Ministry of Health advises doctors to go to the chief physician and discuss their salary. The management of some hospitals is already concluding a new collective agreement with the staff. This document determines who can count on what salary and under what conditions.
But all this, as we see, does not reflect everything that officials from the Ministry of Health tell us. And while they report on their successes, doctors on the ground continue to save lives, fight the bureaucratic system and wait for decent wages for all, if the salary of 125,640 hryvnias a month Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine Oleksandr Linchevsky did not seem such a space doctor from 3784 hryvnias per month or to a nurse from 2970 hryvnias / month.
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The monthly salary of physicians consists of two components: salary (fixed tariff grid, years of service, category, etc.) and advertised allowance for each signed declaration with the patient. But this, in turn, does not mean that the more declarations a family doctor has, the higher the salary, because the size of this allowance is set by each clinic or clinic only individually. Therefore, the amount of the monthly salary can range from 3,700 hryvnias to 14,000 hryvnias. But those who can boast of a salary of 14,000 hryvnias are not so many, and instead the majority still receives the "minimum".
One of the majority is Oksana Pankovyk, a pediatrician and family doctor from Dnipro. With her five years of experience, she received a salary of 3,784 hryvnias in February. "Almost Europe! This takes away any motivation from both young and experienced doctors! Many doctors simply run away from hospitals in search of a more decent salary. They also go abroad. There is also a trend of mass layoffs in the regions. A doctor after an internship, a doctor who moved to another city, a doctor after a decree - do not deserve a salary of 3700 hryvnias per month! This is work for nothing! ” - says doctor Oksana Pankovyk.
With such a monthly salary, the annual income is about 44,000 hryvnias or 1,500 dollars. By comparison, a medical professional in the Netherlands earns an average of $ 253,000 a year. If this amount is distributed according to the work schedule of his Ukrainian counterpart, it turns out that an hour of his time costs 700 hryvnias. In Australia, doctors receive $ 247,000 a year, and in the United States $ 230,000.
The situation is similar for Oksana Pankovyk from Dnipro and family doctor Maria from Kyiv (the name was changed for ethical reasons because after she posted a photo of herself salary certificates online, she was threatened with dismissal - Ufond ).
“At the polyclinic, my minimum salary as a young specialist is 4,500 hryvnias. There is no system of allowances and bonuses in my clinic. Usually 1-2 thousand hryvnias are added for the New Year and March 8. Sometimes patients can leave a "thank you" - on average it is 50-100 UAH. It costs about UAH 1,000 a month. But lately, few are leaving. Apparently, they believe that our salaries are too high after the medical reform. At the moment I do not have a full set of patients, so I will be charged the minimum wage and allowances for already signed declarations. But payments for declarations do not come to the doctor personally, but to the entire clinic. From this amount, the medical institution itself deducts utilities, taxes and more. What is left is given to the family doctor.The maximum number of doctors in my clinic can earn 7-8 thousand, if he has the highest category and experience. In a private clinic, a doctor earns twice as much in the middle season. Many physicians work two jobs to provide for themselves. I also work for an insurance company. There I have a fixed rate of 8,500 hryvnias, ”says a family doctor from Kyiv.
Why are some doctors at a disadvantage?
The doctor, who has registered as a sole proprietor, receives all the money from the National Health Insurance Fund at his own expense and manages it himself. A doctor who works in a municipal medical institution does not receive money for his card. The funds come to the hospital, and the administration decides what to distribute them: to increase salaries, repairs or equipment. The Ministry of Health advises doctors to go to the chief physician and discuss their salary. The management of some hospitals is already concluding a new collective agreement with the staff. This document determines who can count on what salary and under what conditions.
But all this, as we see, does not reflect everything that officials from the Ministry of Health tell us. And while they report on their successes, doctors on the ground continue to save lives, fight the bureaucratic system and wait for decent wages for all, if the salary of 125,640 hryvnias a month Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine Oleksandr Linchevsky did not seem such a space doctor from 3784 hryvnias per month or to a nurse from 2970 hryvnias / month.
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