In Poltava, the 3rd polyclinic is being joined to the 3rd hospital: people gathered for a protest

On June 30, near the third clinic in Poltava, healthcare workers and residents gathered in protest. The reason for the protest is the planned merger of the clinic with the third municipal hospital, which will result in job cuts for some of the staff. This was reported to Ukrayinska Pravda by Antonina Onipko, Deputy Chief Accountant of the 3rd Polyclinic.

"I work in the accounting department, and the accounting department is also being reduced. This includes the chief accountant, the deputy chief accountant, and four or five accountants. They've already told us that they won't keep us. Everyone has families and children to support," says Antonina Onipko, Deputy Chief Accountant of the 3rd Polyclinic in Poltava.

The clinic is being merged with the hospital as part of the creation of a capable network of healthcare institutions, says Sergey Kotov, the director of the city's health department. This means that medical institutions will be divided into general, cluster, and super-cluster categories, based on the range of services they provide. General institutions will offer the least services, cluster institutions will perform more complex procedures and hemodialysis, and super-cluster institutions will be medical facilities that treat patients with the most complex or rare diseases.

"Policlinics are currently running at a complete loss and are unable to support themselves. The National Health Service of Ukraine will hardly finance them as independent institutions. Joining a multi-profile hospital, such as the third one, gives them the right and the opportunity to continue working and be funded," explains Sergey Kotov, the director of the health department of the Poltava city council.

Medical staff will not face layoffs due to the merger, according to Volodymyr Glebov, the director of the polyclinic.

"The third municipal clinical polyclinic does not qualify as a capable institution, so the decision was made to merge the third municipal clinical polyclinic with the third municipal hospital. For doctors and patients, nothing will change. If there are any layoffs, they will involve redundant positions and technical staff. There can't be, for example, two accounting departments, two chief accountants, or two directors," explains Volodymyr Glebov, the director of the 3rd Polyclinic in Poltava.

Sergey Kotov, the director of the city's health department, assures that the merger will not have any impact on medical staff and patients.

"Doctors will continue to work in their own offices, where they currently work. Medical staff will not be reduced, terminated, or transferred to other places, other polyclinics. They will stay where they are," says Sergey Kotov.

Iryna Bondarenko has been working at the polyclinic for 13 years and is afraid of losing her job.

"There was a commission where our chief accountant and their chief accountant presented the staff they want. Unfortunately, there's no place for 80% of our employees. For example, the same women's consultation, which currently has 25 employees, in their plans, there's a 0.25 (job position) for a doctor and a 0.25 (job position) for an obstetrician," says Iryna Bondarenko, the senior midwife at the women's consultation of the 3rd Polyclinic in Poltava.

Local residents have written a collective appeal to the city council to prevent layoffs, according to Alla Khandyuk.

"Starting from the top to the youngest nurse and janitor, we don't want anyone to be laid off. We don't believe anyone; one says one thing, and another says something else. In reality, no one has told us the truth. We only heard that Rudych would oversee both the railway (3rd hospital in Poltava) and here. What will happen next is unknown," says Alla Khandyuk from Poltava.

According to Sergey Kotov, the merger of the polyclinic with the hospital will begin after this issue is approved at a session of the city council.