Pavel Latushka: Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, Ambassador
Why does Lukashenko's regime continue to repress doctors and reduce healthcare for the public to a basic level?
The medical community in Belarus faced unprecedented pressure in 2020. Doctors were among the first to demonstrate their civic position. They provided care to the wounded on the streets and in hospitals, and demanded access to detainees in detention centers. They openly protested the violence against civilians in the country.
As a result, many were fired and imprisoned, while some were forced to leave the country. According to the Medical Solidarity Foundation, White Coats, and ZUBR, since August 2020, 248 medical workers have been detained and jailed.
These figures are likely incomplete, but they show a large number of medical staff who’d been detained. Along with detention, doctors face intimidation, blackmail, dismissals based on "blacklists", coercion to join pro-government unions, and more. Repression in healthcare is now permanent and total, impacting almost every medical worker.
It seems a doctor, whose profession is to rescue and naturally opposes murder and violence, is an enemy of the state? This is absurd. But the dictator’s principle of “sometimes not caring about laws” in relation to doctors was transformed into the principle of “provide cure only to those who we allow.”
All this is despite 4,943 doctor vacancies and 4,165 nurse vacancies as of July 2024. The shortage grows every month.
Things are getting worse, but Lukashenko pretends not to notice, temporarily silencing the problem.
Why temporarily? Because "medical help from Chinese traditional medicine", already dubious to Belarusians but desired by the Lukashenkos, is approaching.
Instead of professional care, Lukashenko plans to force Belarusians into traditional Chinese methods and remedies.
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