The National Health Service

The Ministry of Health is in charge of managing the health sector through health departments belonging to the Regional and Minsk Municipal Executive Committees. The 1993 healthcare law maintains that public spending on healthcare should not be less than 10 percent of the national income. All citizens in Belarus have the right to free health care in state-funded institutions.

According to the Law On Health Protection of the Republic of Belarus, state policy on health protection is based on the following principles:

· free and accessible medical care;

· health protection directed towards disease prevention; priority for medical care to mothers and children;

· and responsibility for citizens’ health rests with state bodies as well as employers.

The health service is funded through general taxation. Unlike most other countries in Europe, employees are not required to contribute to the health budget. All citizens and registered residents of Belarus are entitled to a wide-ranging package of free health care benefits in state-funded institutions. Medicines prescribed for outpatients, some dental services including false teeth, cosmetic surgery, spectacles, visits to health resorts and some preventive examinations will incur costs. The government decides what each group of society receives in terms of health services.

Citizens who belong to vulnerable groups of society e.g. pregnant women, war veterans, diabetics and tuberculosis patients do not have to pay any charges. Parents must, however pay part of the cost for their children’s prescription medicines.

Citizens can buy private health insurance to supplement the state system and to cover them for the services deemed non-essential. However, not many people have the means to do this and the volume of private healthcare in Belarus is insignificant and is limited to a few rich individuals and a small minority of employees, who receive private healthcare as a benefit of their job.

There are around 41,700 doctors and nearly 111,000 junior medical staff - a large number for a population of this size. Belarus has 511 outpatient clinics, 372 of which are rural polyclinics. There are also 732 outpatient departments in hospitals, 422 of which are in rural hospitals.

Rural health institutions provide emergency medical service, first aid and basic outpatient care to the people residing in villages and small towns. Health posts refer patients in need of more complex procedures to a hospital.

Doctor-led practices serve the larger rural districts. These practices often have their own small hospital wing for inpatient care. Such health stations are usually staffed by nurses and a general practitioner who treats adults and a general paediatrician, an obstetrician and a midwife.

The country has 834 hospitals providing over 125,000 beds. By law, hospitals can charge patients for any care that they deem is non-essential. However, not many hospitals do this because so few people can afford to pay for medical services and in the past, any profit the hospital made was heavily taxed by the state.

Polyclinics provide the treatment for residents of towns. They also provide specialised medical services for residents of an entire administrative district. The polyclinic staff is made up of general practitioners known as uchastok, non-specialist obstetricians, midwives, nurses and social workers.

The polyclinic provides routine health checks, health education, immunisation, sickness certification, home visits, antenatal and obstetric care. Most standard polyclinics have a range of specialists, which includes cardiologists, gastroenterologists and oncologists. Polyclinic dentists provide basic dental services although all adults have to pay for their dental care.

Chemists are known as Pharmaceya in Belarus. There is a network of government and privately owned pharmacies all over the country. Seven state-owned companies manufacture drugs and they own more than 4,300 chemists. There are 1,500 private pharmacies. Citizens have to pay for all of the medicines sold through a chemist, but the government has determined that certain vulnerable groups including some people with long-term illness should receive free or reduced-price medicine.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14