Medical staff at a Yekaterinburg hospital complained about pay cuts.

      At Central City Clinical Hospital No. 24 in Yekaterinburg, medical workers complained about a sharp drop in salaries. As employees from various departments told E1.RU, many had their incentive payments cut: nurses — by 30–60% (from 5,000 to 15,000 rubles), orderlies and registrars — by up to 100%. Doctors were affected to a lesser extent: in clinics the decrease was about 10%, in hospitals — 20%.

      According to staff, they began to be notified of the cuts as early as August, and the payments were reduced retroactively — for July. Documents for signature were handed out with blank fields, so people are unclear about the exact size of the cuts. New contracts state that from November 9 incentive payments for mid-level staff will be cut by another 66%.

      Doctors and nurses say such measures will worsen the staffing shortage. The situation is especially acute in the women's clinic: only nine doctors and 15 midwives work there, and their payments were also reduced. A queue of hundreds of patients has already formed for appointments.

      According to employees, a midwife's salary will now fall below 40,000 rubles. Management insists this is temporary. Medical workers, however, fear a new wave of layoffs.

      The press service of Hospital No. 24 neither confirmed nor denied the cuts, saying that payments are made strictly according to contract and that the size of incentive payments depends on performance indicators.