This conclusion follows from a statement by the "Minister of Health of the Republic", Natalia Pashchenko, regarding the employment of the "first doctor of the year under the ‘Zemsky Doctor’ program" at the Central City Multidisciplinary Hospital of the city.
Dzhambulat Bakaev moved to occupied Luhansk oblast from the Moscow oblast, where he worked as a GP.
The "minister" considers his arrival "a wonderful start to 2025 and evidence of the successful implementation of a program aimed at attracting qualified medical personnel to the regions".
Meanwhile, the russian "Zemsky Doctor" program is designed to attract medical personnel (with a lump-sum payment of 2 million rubles) to rural areas, and small towns with populations of less than 50,000. Before the russian occupation, Siverskodonetsk (formerly known as Sievierodonetsk) had a population of over 110,000, and the Central City Multidisciplinary Hospital was the leading medical institution in the Luhansk oblast. Currently, according to occupation authorities, around 40,000 residents remain in the city, and the recruitment of specialists under the "Zemsky Doctor" program may indicate a severe shortage of medical personnel.
The situation is even more dire in rural areas— in 2025, the "LNR" authorities plan to recruit 30 "Zemsky" doctors and paramedics. Last year, only 11 such medical professionals were employed in the occupied Luhansk oblast.