Pevkur: Medics' Raises Will Ultimately Be Patient-Funded
Social Affairs Minister Hanno Pevkur has said that any raises for doctors, nurses and caregivers will ultimately have to come out of patients' pockets.
On the ETV program Forum, the minister was asked what would motivate health care workers to continue working in Estonia.
Pevkur said there has to be a stable vision of what health care should be like in Estonia, along with a sense of security that salaries will not just go up this year but in each year to come. He said there has to be a good working environment, and the profession has to be rewarding for the practitioners.
"Will we reduce numbers of hospitals, or workloads; will we make waiting lists longer; will reducing workload lead to us having to charge patients more? Because ultimately everything comes out of the patients' pockets - whether we're talking about tax increases, redistributing taxes or increasing co-payments."
He acknowledged that raises should exceed the 6 percent, which is the current proposed level for nurses' pay increases in 2013. But, he added, teachers and policemen were also waiting in line.
He said arriving at a medium to long term agreement could obviate a strike. "If we could for instance agree that for three years in a row, salaries would rise 6-7 percent and put it down on paper, we don't have to strike over it."