More than 30 medical professionals have been employed at the Pochinkovskaya Central District Hospital under the "Zemsky Doctor" and "Zemsky Feldsher" programs.

      October 17, 2025, 10:48 Society More than 30 medical workers have been employed at the Pochinki Central District Hospital thanks to the "Zemsky Doctor" and "Zemsky Feldsher" programs over the past four years. The specialists relocated to rural areas and signed five-year employment contracts with the state healthcare institution. All program participants received one-time cash payments: for doctors the amount ranges from 1 to 1.5 million rubles, and for feldshers and nurses — from 500 to 750 thousand rubles.

      As noted by the regional Ministry of Health, this social support measure has for more than a decade remained one of the most effective ways to address the staffing shortage in public healthcare. Since the beginning of 2025, nearly 80 people across the region have joined the "Zemsky Doctor" and "Zemsky Feldsher" programs. Around 40 more medical workers could fill the available quotas by the end of the year.

      According to acting director of the Southern Interdistrict Medical Center Olga Karpushkina, the implementation of the programs allows the Pochinki Central District Hospital to successfully work toward achieving the goals of the new national project "Longer and Active Life." For example, in March this year the hospital hired a new feldsher — he became head of the Maidansky FAP (feldsher-midwife station). In the autumn the Pochinki hospital's team was joined by two highly in-demand doctors in the district: an ophthalmologist and a surgeon.

      "For remote districts the programs, of course, are very important. They allow us to attract qualified specialists from the larger cities of the Nizhny Novgorod region and even from neighboring regions. The fairly substantial payments help doctors, feldshers and nurses who move here to settle permanently to buy their own housing and carry out good renovations," Olga Karpushkina explained.

      The new surgeon at the Pochinki Central District Hospital, Mikhail Polyaev, moved to the municipality from Mordovia. The key factors for the move were the opportunity to significantly increase his salary and to use the one-time payment to improve housing conditions.

      "My wife and I have two children, the youngest is only seven months old. Pochinki borders Mordovia, so we remained fairly close to our relatives. At the same time the district has rural status, so all medical workers in state healthcare institutions here receive additional bonuses. For doctors the monthly supplement is about 50 thousand rubles — this is a very good amount for a young family with small children. With the 1.5 million rubles we received under the 'Zemsky Doctor' program we purchased our own comfortable house with a small fruit garden. So even after the five-year employment contract expires we plan to continue living here," Mikhail Polyaev shared.

      Recall that the national project "Longer and Active Life" was launched in Russia in 2025. It is a continuation of the national project "Healthcare" and is being implemented on the instruction of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The new national project covers all areas of work in the sector — from the modernization of primary care to rehabilitation and the fight against oncological diseases.

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