Aleksandr Lukashenko signs executive order to improve efficiency of healthcare system

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has signed an executive order "On improving the efficiency of the healthcare system".

Following the government conference held on 23 May 2023, the head of state gave specific instructions to streamline healthcare institutions at all levels, to create conditions for the provision of high-quality medical care to the population and to pay special attention to rural communities.

The chairmen of local authorities shall be personally responsible for the sanitary and engineering status of buildings and structures of healthcare institutions.

The Healthcare Ministry shall revise the regulatory legal acts regulating medical and pharmaceutical activities, the provision of paid medical services, taking into account law enforcement practice.

Under the document, medical institutions need to adjust medical examination procedures, and to reduce the waiting period for high-tech surgical interventions and diagnostic tests.

Additional measures are needed to address the problem of shortage of medics, especially in rural areas, improve the quality of their training and retention in the workplace. Salaries of medical workers will be revised upward.

Instructions have been given to ensure the development of new medicines, to increase production and expand the range of domestic medicines, and to improve the management system of the pharmaceutical industry.

The interdepartmental working group, set up by the President, will continue auditing the healthcare system until the end of the year, including the monitoring of solutions to the identified problematic issues.

Reports on the results of this work will be submitted to the head of state in January 2024.