"No Brains": A Doctor Gave An Accurate Diagnosis Of Medicine Under Lukashenko
- 11.09.2026, 7:55
The regime is triggering a new exodus of medical professionals.
Belarusian doctors may face an extension of the mandatory service period in public institutions to seven years. Only after that will doctors be allowed to transfer to private medical centers.
Why is the Lukashenko regime tightening working conditions for doctors? The website Charter97.org posed this question to Alexei Nosov, a Belarusian trauma surgeon living in Spain:
— Regarding the seven-year service requirement: there are definitely hidden pitfalls, 100 percent. For one simple reason: the discussion is most likely about assigned work, not just about completing the service period. The point is that in the past, you had to work for three years, after which you could choose another place if you found somewhere you could go. But now, if we’re talking specifically about assignment, you’re effectively stuck in this system for seven years, and everything depends on where you’re assigned.
Because there are regions where “Bulgakov-style” medicine is still the norm, so to speak. For example, we work in Spain, and our local hospital has an MRI machine—not to mention other medical imaging tests. But over there, a district hospital means a white coat, a doctor, and a syringe. I’m, of course, exaggerating a lot. Naturally, they have X-rays there, and some hospitals have ultrasounds, but they lack the level of diagnostics needed to make medical decisions.
The point is that when a doctor ends up there, their experience will be like that of a rural doctor—a very basic one. Roughly speaking, you have to cobble something together out of Styrofoam and sticks, figure it out, and treat the patient. That’s quite difficult. So, naturally, people don’t want to work there. On top of that, there are the conditions that young specialists face. In very few—extremely few—places is housing or any kind of benefits provided. In the rest, there’s often no proper infrastructure.
Friends, who were assigned to such places have told me: in the winter, you bundle up in a sheepskin coat, with a dog following behind you; you go out, howl at the moon, and head right back because everything is covered in snow—just like in Bulgakov’s village. That’s the kind of places we have. And, naturally, who would want to go there? Now this could become mandatory for seven years. But people aren’t stupid; I hope they’ll find a way out. There are plenty of job opportunities for doctors around the world, in many countries. So either the authorities will start creating decent conditions for the healthcare system to function and for young medical professionals, or people will have to realize that their own skin is, after all, closer to their body. Most likely, that’s exactly what will happen.
The point is that the authorities in Belarus are, in principle, looking for ways to preserve this bubble that exists within the country. And since they don’t have much of a brain to speak of, they’re trying, you know, to paint the walls of the cowsheds with pink circles: maybe it’ll fly, maybe it’ll work.
— Won’t a seven-year residency requirement deter applicants from medical schools, where there’s already a shortfall?
— It’s hard to say. Because the mindset of the people who stayed there—especially those living in the provinces—is a bit different. Minsk is one thing; the mindset there is still quite European, albeit with certain flaws. But people living in the provinces have a completely different mindset.
For example, some local official or other influential person would be more than happy to get their son into medical school—even if he isn’t a very good student. Or their daughter—even if she isn’t a very good student either. But it’s possible to pass the medical school exams and get admitted through a referral. Then, of course, they’re assigned back to where they’re from.
In such cases, this probably won’t deter them, because that’s what people want themselves. It’s seen as a form of career advancement. Although they don’t understand what it’s like to work as a doctor in Belarus—what the working conditions are like or how much doctors are paid. So, because of the prestige, they’ll most likely apply anyway. As for the rest—I don’t know; we’ll see. It’s very difficult to predict.