Uzbek Doctors Become Suspect Group

The Uzbek government has imposed travel restrictions on hospital managers, apparently fearing that they will become infected with foreign ideas if they go abroad.

In late March, the Expert Working Group, a Tashkent-based analysis organisation, reported a healthcare ministry edict stipulating “strict regulation and recording of healthcare managers who attend international forums, conferences, congresses, seminars, or go on exchange programmes and other training events”.

Hospital staff wishing to go abroad will now be obliged to submit a letter explaining the purpose of their trip to the health ministry at least ten days beforehand.

If the staff member is a doctor, and is planning to deliver a lecture or presentation abroad, he or she will also have to submit a copy for inspection. Only after carefully scrutinising the content will the authorities decide whether to grant the doctor permission to leave the country.

All medical staff will be required to submit a report on their trip once they return to Uzbekistan.

Officials in Tashkent have yet to comment on the new rules, but a health ministry official told the Uzbek service of RFE/RL that tougher regulation had been brought in because medical staff had in recent years gone on trips abroad funded by “international organisations whose activities are banned in Uzbekistan”, and had provided them with information.

A commentator in Tashkent said this was indeed the likely motive – the government is unhappy about reports that have appeared in foreign media, revealing problems with oncological care, shortages of blood, and the growing incidence of tuberculosis and anaemia.

“The foreign press is being carefully monitored, as it is clear that such information was provided by doctors,” said the official.

“So what?” asked a media-watcher in Uzbekistan. “Who benefits if the authorities avoid speaking about the real healthcare situation? If they spoke about it openly, then the problem could be resolved without pressuring doctors and tying their hands.”

As this commentator pointed out, there is a lack of credible information and freely-accessible data on various areas of healthcare in Uzbekistan. The domestic press confines itself to upbeat articles, and there is no objective reporting on the numerous problems that exist. 

Another possible reason for monitoring doctors’ movements is that many of them are opting to emigrate, like many other professionals.

“A great many of the medics who leave the country are not returning,” said a commentator in Tashkent. “Many go to African states, and even the most unstable countries, as they can obtain invitations to go there.”

The exodus is being driven by low wages and scarcity of jobs in the state health sector, where doctors earn about 90 US dollars a month and nurses 70 dollars. Government curbs on private practice has spurred the emigration of doctors.

A 32-year-old doctor from the Fergana valley in the east of the country said he was planning to apply for a work visa for Afghanistan.

“My friends are a married couple who are doctors, and they have been to work in Afghanistan several times. They told me it’s possible to earn good money there as a doctor.” 

An immunologist from Samarkand, recently returned from a medical conference in the United States, is also planning his exit.

“When I received an offer to start working in the US, I thought it was a joke,” he said. “But then I spoke to several doctors from Uzbekistan who now live in the US, and I realised I would be able to earn a living with my knowledge and experience. And it’s good money.”

This doctor said he would not be deterred by any restrictions. If necessary, he said, the required permits could be obtained by paying bribes.

“I will do everything to leave the country,” he said. 

This article was produced as part of IWPR’s News Briefing CentralAsia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.