According to the Swiss news television program "Rundschau" (released on the public national TV channel "SRF"), the chief doctors of the large Swiss clinics earn an average of 350,000 to 1 million francs a year.

Sometimes more than generous salaries of Swiss chief doctors, together with information on the ever-increasing cost of medical services in recent months, regularly appeared on the front pages of the Confederation. A new round of debates began in Geneva, where, as it turned out, other doctors earn one million a year.

The Swiss health system belongs to the most developed, but at the same time the most expensive in the world. To the growing insurance tariffs within the framework of CHI all in Switzerland have long been accustomed to the inevitable evil. Attempts to counteract negative trends, for example, with the help of referendums, have so far led to nothing: the proposal, in particular, to create a single national health insurance company OMS. The exile was rejected a couple of years ago in a referendum.

However, this issue has one more side, related to the remuneration received by the doctors for their operations. Insurance companies seek not only to "rip off" more with citizens, but also pay less to doctors in order to increase their incomes. Recently, more precisely on January 1, 2018, a new tariff plan of monetary reimbursements to doctors for operations conducted by them on an outpatient basis came into force, providing for a noticeable reduction in the corresponding tariffs.

Geneva surgeons-specialists in the field of orthopedic reconstructive microsurgery and surgery of the arm and upper limbs decided that they can not tolerate this and started a strike, refusing to carry out operations (mainly operations for the treatment of the so-called "carpal tunnel syndrome"), except for urgent. This syndrome, common, for example, in the environment of active computer users, arises due to the compression of the median nerve between the bones, transverse carpal ligament and tendons of the wrist muscles.

The operation to release the nerve lasts only 20-30 minutes, but it is relatively complex and expensive. The new tariff catalog, which entered into force in the new year 2018, turned out to be a very unpleasant surprise for surgeons: the payment for carrying out such an operation in the outpatient regime suddenly fell by 40% from 177 francs to 105. This decrease has affected other specialists, for example, gynecologists and urologists.

Public debate.

Only 13 doctors took part in the strike in Geneva, but their action received significant political consequences. The first reaction was from Mauro Poggia, a member of the Geneva government responsible for health. "I think that doctors should fight for their interests in a different way, rather than take patients as hostages," he said..

Literally several hours later, during the national conference "Gesundheit2020External link / Sante2000External link" ("Health 2020"), which took place on January 29 and related to medical expenses, the supervising minister Alain Berset personally intervened in the discussion,. Chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is responsible for health (there is no separate Ministry of Health in Switzerland. red. ) stated that "some doctors receive from 80 to 90 thousand. francs per month, and all this at the expense of people paid insurance premiums. Such salaries are unacceptable, "the minister said, speaking on the public television channel RTS, immediately specifying that" the overwhelming majority of doctors receive a perfectly normal salary ".

Nevertheless, his statements caused a negative reaction in the medical environment. "I am very surprised that the minister responsible for healthcare allows himself such statements, saying that, say, the high wages of specialists is the reason for the rise in price of insurance premiums. It's just a scandal! ", Jean-Marc Heinicke, president of the Geneva Surgeons' Union, told RTS,.

Medical income is only one of the factors.

Meanwhile, the public was informed that some doctors actually receive more than a solid salary in Switzerland. An investigation conducted by the "Rundschau" TV program (published on the public national television of Switzerland "SRF") showed that the majority of about a thousand chief doctors of Swiss clinics earn an average of 350,000 to 1.5 million. francs per year. Their average salary is about one million, and almost a quarter of them earn 2.5 million francs a year.

The most highly paid specialists are radiologists, cardiologists and gastroenterologists. In response to the question of where such salaries come from, Swiss associations of medical workers constantly answer that, yes, of course, there are people with high incomes in our industry, but this is not provided at the expense of the payers of contributions within the basic public health insurance system, first of all, thanks to patients contracting private supplementary health insurance.

According to doctors, to make high salaries of doctors responsible for the constant growth of general insurance tariffs is unlawful. The incomes of doctors are just one of a number of factors that form the overall level of health care costs. It is clear that all this controversy on the situation with the costs of medical care in Switzerland will not affect. On the other hand, it can be hoped that in the future there may be a situation where the current requirements in terms of greater transparency in the pay of doctors will turn into some kind of political initiative and a new chance to solve the issue of the ever increasing costs of medicine systematically and long-term.

swissinfo. ch.

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