Home » World » Ignores doctors, ignores the ombudsman – Independent

Ignores doctors, ignores the ombudsman – Independent

Instead, the government and the Saeima are to some extent flirting with both doctors and the health care system in general, for which an adequate financial assessment of the work of doctors, nurses and sanitary workers is extremely important, as well as with themselves. In a conversation with the Independent, the Chairman of the Social and Labor Affairs Committee of the Saeima Andris Skride points out that failure to fulfill promises and dragging discussions on the new remuneration model for doctors (the new system is planned to be introduced only in 2023) may lead to the end of the government.

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The beginning of the never-ending story about the increase in medical salaries can be traced back to the Saeima’s decision more than two years ago, when deputies included in the Health Care Financing Law a norm for increasing medical salaries by twenty percent for the next three years – 2019, 2020 and 2021. Only for 2019 the law was complied with, but after long discussions in 2019 and taking into account the small additional funding requested by the Ministry of Health, the salaries of doctors (more precisely – the lowest monthly salaries) were increased by ten percent in 2020.

How long can you call to tidy up the system?

This is not the first time that the Ombudsman raises the issue of medical remuneration. Already since 2005, medical practitioners have been fighting for an increase in remuneration, and the Constitutional Court has already examined the non-compliance of another law with the Satversme, namely, the extended normal working hours, which allowed doctors to be paid without double overtime. Analyzing the situation in medicine, the Ombudsman Juris Jansons rightly points out that “by ensuring fair, competitive remuneration of medical personnel – both doctors and support staff – nurses, medical assistants and others, the number of persons wishing to work in health care in Latvia will increase, but does not precisely because of low pay ‘. The Ministry of Health has acknowledged that the lack of adequate remuneration is considered to be the leading and in principle the most significant risk factor for burnout syndrome among state medical practitioners.

“Until this issue is resolved, all other methods of preventing and treating medical burnout will be ineffective,” Jansons said.

The Ombudsman has concluded that in both 2018 and 2019, the salaries of medical practitioners were increased as planned, but not in 2020. Like journalists, the ombudsman has followed the decision-making process – in August 2019, the deputies of the responsible Social and Labor Affairs Committee voted to stick to the setting of not voting for the approval of the 2020 state budget, if it does not include the Health Care Financing Law. to allocate not less than four per cent of the gross domestic product and to provide funds for the increase of the salaries of health care workers by an average of 20 per cent per year.

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SILENCE. The Ombudsman’s appeal to the Constitutional Court regarding the non-compliance of the Health Care Financing Law with the Satversme was only a matter of time, as this law still contains norms which politicians do not intend to implement.

However, the vote of the Saeima deputies on the state budget for 2020 clearly showed the opposite – ignoring and not complying with the previously adopted law. “Furthermore, it should be emphasized that in this case there is no excuse that it was only a” promise “, as it is a legal norm established by the force of law,” the Ombudsman emphasizes. He clearly substantiates why the norms of the law do not comply with the Satversme.

Ignores the ombudsman, ignores the law

It should also be noted that there is a similar trend in the behavior of the responsible ministries as in other cases, such as social security. This is also indicated by the ombudsman, hiding frustration behind the lines of the report. The Ministry of Health presents to the Saeima the story “Reforms in health care” – how to improve the system and how significantly to increase wages in health care, but (..) the presentation clearly shows that the funding planned for 2021 for wage growth differs from the law; less than allocated in the 2020 budget.

“The state’s action in drawing up next year’s budget will also be inconsistent and the law will not be complied with,” the ombudsman concludes, adding that “unfortunately, the ministry did not respond to the ombudsman’s request for information on the 2021 budget’s actions within the 2021 budget.” In the opinion of the Ombudsman, the actions of the legislator that have created a significant threat to the interests of the state and society should be emphasized.

The government can stumble

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Andris Skride, the head of the Social and Labor Affairs Committee of the Saeima, should finally agree on what to do. In a letter to the Ombudsman, the Commission acknowledged that the issue of doctors’ salaries was not being addressed effectively

The Chairman of the Saeima Social and Labor Affairs Commission Andris Skride supports the Ombudsman’s decision to apply to the Constitutional Court, but also sees shortcomings in the work of the deputies themselves. “The situation is dual – on the one hand, it is afraid to change something in the law, because it can cause scandal and great dissatisfaction, but on the other hand – too little strength and desire to fight this fight to the end and achieve the promised increase in salaries for doctors,” says A Skride. According to him, this summer, when preparing next year’s budget, it is necessary to review all budget expenditures and find funding for medicine, fulfilling the promises made to doctors. “The situation with Covid-19 cannot be an argument for not increasing the salaries of doctors, especially in a situation where the work of doctors in an epidemic is important for the security of the whole country,” Skride said.

Failure to keep promises could lead to the fall of the government, the politician believes.

Next week, Saeima deputies plan to hear the Minister of Finance.

In its turn, the Ministry of Health states to the Independent that increasing the remuneration of doctors is one of the main priorities and currently the ministry is preparing to submit a request for additional funding for the increase of remuneration from 2021.

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What is set out in the Health Care Financing Act?

Article 11 of the Transitional Provisions

When preparing the draft law on the state budget for 2019 and the draft law on the medium-term budget framework for 2019, 2020 and 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers envisages state funding for increasing the average annual salary of health care workers by 20 per cent: in 2019 – 87,483,708 EUR 191,227,820 in 2020 and EUR 314,599,953 in 2021

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