Doctor: All Of My Classmates Have Left Belarus
- 31.07.2026, 12:53
An Assessment of the Belarusian Healthcare System.
Where have Belarusian doctors gone, and why doesn’t anyone want to work in the public healthcare system? This is the question the website Charter97.org posed to Alexei Nosov, a Belarusian doctor living in Spain:
— The main factor is that we live in an economic world where money rules everything. Working 180–200 hours a month and ending up with a salary that barely gets you by until the next paycheck is no laughing matter. It really isn’t funny.
A great many professionals of my generation, as well as people slightly older or younger who were accomplished in their own right, sought a way to the West and found it. Many have left, and they’re in high demand there. The last of my classmates who remained in Belarus left two years ago. Our entire group has been abroad for a long time now. He was the head of a department—I won’t specify which one—and had extensive hands-on experience. We all asked him, “Why don’t you leave?” He replied, “I have something to lose. I’m a department head here,” and so on.
When he finally left for Germany, he realized that the salary level there was completely different. For the work he does, he earns—and I’ll emphasize this—ten times more than he did in Belarus. Ten times more. That’s a very significant figure, after all. Let’s start with that.
Many people would be willing to continue working in Belarus. But there are also issues regarding the organization of healthcare and patients’ attitudes toward doctors.
I understand that, in the eyes of some patients, doctors are to blame for all their illnesses. But, excuse me, if a person eats three or four kilograms of food, does nothing all day, smokes a pack of cigarettes, and then goes to the doctor demanding that their health be restored, that’s not serious—and it’s not funny at all. Health education in Belarus is nonexistent. You could say it doesn’t exist at all. The healthcare system is simply ridiculous—utterly ridiculous by European standards. When a doctor in Belarus shows up for work, they’re immediately at risk of criminal charges. They’ve only just arrived at work, and they’re already effectively facing criminal charges. This is no secret; all doctors know it.
Then there are patients who think they’re always right and start insulting the doctor. Of course, not everyone behaves this way. But some insult you right from the doorstep—sometimes they even come at you with their fists. You’re forced to deal with all of this instead of focusing on your actual medical work. Personally, I’m not interested in that, and neither are many other people.
On top of everything else, doctors aren’t exactly the dumbest people on earth. They have a certain level of education and intellectual capacity. They understand what’s going on around them, know their own worth, and try to find something acceptable for their lives. That’s why the vast majority of doctors have simply left. Those who stayed continue to work. Some are just biding their time until retirement. Others were forced out of the profession. You do realize that, in addition to the staff shortage, there are also repressions taking place in Belarus.
I won’t go into detail about that. These people have lost their jobs. They can no longer work as doctors in Belarus. Naturally, they go abroad, have their degrees recognized, and start working there. In Belarus, they’re not allowed to work simply because they’re disloyal to the Lukashenko regime.
You do realize that the man who is currently ruling Belarus illegally is working to ensure that the country is completely destroyed. So that the people who will eventually come to rebuild this country will have virtually no chance left.
Many of those who have remained in Belarus do not understand this. The people working in factories don’t understand this, and neither do our patients. They don’t realize that soon there simply won’t be anyone left to treat them. The state is ensuring that everyone inside the country has fewer and fewer opportunities to live a normal life.