The shortage of healthcare specialists is a time bomb — sekunde.lt

Chief Presidential Adviser Irena Segalovičienė said the shortage of healthcare specialists has led to queues in state medical institutions. She believes it is appropriate to consider incentives for doctors who choose to work in the public sector, especially in remote areas.

“This problem (lack of specialists – ELTA) does create queues. Working in the regions, we noticed that there is a severe shortage of specialists not only in the health sector, but also in other fields,” said I. Segalovičienė at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Health Affairs (SRK) on Wednesday.
“We think it’s possible to think about the incentives and motivations of professionals to choose the public sector. I’m talking about social security, working conditions, and even some specific social protections,” she said.
The head of state’s chief adviser said more could have been done to reduce the queues.
“We should consider making more principled decisions to incentivize institutions to move to a common system. Cohort generation and management could be more unified,” she stressed.
Moreover, as I. Segalovičienė added, in the future it would be worth considering not only the development of a national program for attracting specialists from various regions, but also different models of medical training.
The Chief Advisor to President Gitanas Nausedas also stressed the balance between the public and private sectors, the importance of prevention programs, protecting vulnerable groups, strengthening public health and providing innovative medicines.
ELTA reminds that on Wednesday, at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Health Affairs, MPs discussed the statements and recommendations of state leaders in the field of health protection mentioned in the annual report read out at the end of June.
The Ministry of Health has developed an action plan to attract and retain healthcare professionals for the period 2024-2029. A total of more than 30 million euros is planned for allocation.
According to the Ministry of Health, by providing various financial incentives, it is expected to address the shortage of doctors, attract specialists to the region, popularize research in the field of health sciences, and thus improve accessibility of healthcare services to patients.