HOSPITAL BED AVAILABILITY IN BELARUS AS OF THE END OF 2023.

HOSPITAL BED AVAILABILITY IN BELARUS AS OF THE END OF 2023.

During the 154th session of the WHO Executive Board, the representative from the Republic of Belarus made a statement, which among other things, highlighted that the country has a high provision of hospital beds, totaling 103.7 per 10,000 inhabitants, ensuring high accessibility of hospital care [1].

The Medical Solidarity Foundation review gathered information from open sources on the number of hospital beds in the Republic of Belarus for the period from 2019 to 2023.

Study Objectives.

  • The primary objective is to assess the number of hospital beds in the Republic of Belarus at the end of 2023.
  • The secondary objective is to analyze and present statistical information about the number of hospital beds, published in official sources by the Ministry of Health and Belstat.

Definitions Used. The term “hospital organizations” includes: 1.1. Hospital; 1.2. General hospital; 1.3. Medical-sanitary unit; 1.4. Dispensary; 1.5. Center; 1.6. Maternity hospital; 1.7. Children’s home; 1.8. Hospice; 1.9. University clinic.

The nomenclature of healthcare organizations is defined by the Decree of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus dated December 5, 2023, No. 183 [2].

The number of hospital beds refers to the count of beds in a hospital organization equipped with the necessary inventory and ready to admit patients, regardless of whether they are currently occupied or not, as of the end of the reporting year.

The bed count does not include beds for mothers in children’s departments, nor beds for newborns in maternity wards.

The bed fund of hospital organizations is divided into beds for short-term stay, long-term stay, and others.

Short-term stay beds include hospital beds for providing medical care to patients of therapeutic, pediatric, and surgical profiles in hospitals, dispensaries, specialized centers, maternity hospitals, general hospitals, medical scientific organizations, and medical-sanitary units.

Long-term stay beds include hospital beds for accommodating patients requiring long-term care, which includes tuberculosis beds, psychiatric (neuropsychiatric) beds, and rehabilitation beds.

Other types of beds include palliative care beds, nursing beds, and medico-social beds. [3]

Data on the number of hospital beds were systematically published by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus, the National Statistical Committee (Belstat), and the Republican Scientific and Practical Center of Medical Technologies. However, since 2020, the availability of statistical indicators in open sources has continued to decline. For example, as of April 2024, the Belstat website only presents data on the number of beds up to the end of 2012 (Fig.1).

Fig.1 Screenshot from the Belstat website, April 25, 2024.

Due to restricted access to many .gov.by domain sites, including the Ministry of Health website, from servers located outside Belarus, there is a need to analyze disparate sources to evaluate metrics that should be publicly available.

According to statements made by the Belarusian representative during the 154th session of the WHO, the number of hospital beds in our country is 103.7 per 10,000 inhabitants. The period for which this indicator was calculated is not specified. Considering that statistical reporting on this parameter is not subject to significant fluctuations throughout the year, it can be assumed that this refers to the status as of the end of 2023.

With the average population in 2023 being 9,178,298 [4], this means that the absolute number of beds should be approximately 95,179 (103.7 * 9,178,298 / 10,000).

In our country, many health-related statistical indicators, including the number of hospital beds, are calculated separately for the healthcare system and for all departments combined, the latter including organizations from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Border Service, etc. The official statistical yearbook HEALTHCARE IN THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS, published by the State Institution “Republican Scientific and Practical Center of Medical Technologies, Informatics, Management and Economics of Healthcare” (RSPPC MT) was last issued in 2019, with no more recent publications available. The 2019 edition reports a total of 98,654 hospital beds across all departments, which equates to 104.9 per 10,000 inhabitants [5].

Systematic data on the number of hospital beds within the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus are presented in the collection Regions of the Republic of Belarus, with the reporting period ending in 2022.

Table 1. Number of beds in hospital organizations within the Ministry of Health system at the end of the year (in absolute numbers). Regions of the Republic of Belarus, 2023.

Year Minsk reg [6] Minsk city [7] Brest reg [8] Vitebsk reg [9] Grodno reg[10] Gomel reg [11] Mogilev reg [12] Total
2019 11801 14431 10946 9520 8242 11899 8760 75599
2020 12171 14736 11040 9631 8273 12255 8892 76998
2021 11869 14308 10939 9239 8278 11937 8713 75283
2022 12034 13746 10477 8702 7936 11692 8375 72962

For the year 2023, the official sources do not provide this indicator’s value. However, during the board meeting of the Ministry of Health on May 15, 2024, Minister Alexander Khodzhaev stated that “In 2023, 2,136 beds were reduced” [13]. From this statement, it can be inferred that the number of hospital beds in the Ministry of Health system in the country at the end of 2023 would be 70,826 (72,962 - 2,136) or 77.1 per 10,000 inhabitants. Based on the collected data:

Table 3. Number of Hospital Beds in the Republic of Belarus

Year Total According Ministry of health system by the Ministry of health system to the total amount(%)
2019 98654 75599 76,6
…
2023 95179 70826 74,4

It’s noteworthy that for the same year, the Ministry of Health presents different figures in various sources:

Table 2. Number of beds in certain regions for 2021. According to the Ministry of Health system.

Name Minsk city Brest reg Vitebsk reg Grodno reg Gomel reg Mogilev reg
Number of Beds in Inpatient Facilities. Monitoring of Healthcare Institutions: Situation Under Control. Ministry of Health Press Service, September 24, 2021. [14] 10185 10730 7270 9683 14669 10661
Number of Beds in Hospital Organizations at the End of 2021. Statistical Yearbook REGIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS, 2023 [15] 14308 10939 9239 8278 11937 8713

The discrepancy in the data between reports on healthcare institution monitoring and the statistical yearbook, along with the Sustainable Development Goals, highlights the complexities in healthcare metrics such as hospital bed numbers. The term “number of beds in inpatient facilities” is not mentioned in the statistical yearbooks, regulatory documents of the Ministry of Health, or international nomenclature. According to the WHO, “The number of hospital beds reflects the capacity of a hospital to accommodate patients” [16]. In Russian, the terms “стационар” (inpatient facility) and “больничная организация” (hospital organization) are often used interchangeably, suggesting that the healthcare institution monitoring refers to the number of beds in hospital organizations.

The difference in bed numbers between the monitoring report and the yearbook could be due to the data in the first being from September 2021 and in the second from the end of the year. However, this time difference does not fully explain the discrepancy of several thousand beds in one region.

The WHO’s website lists the latest published data as from 2019, noting 96.6 beds per 10,000 [17], whereas the Belarus Healthcare yearbook for the same period reports 104.9 per 10,000 [5].

Figure 2. Number of Hospital Beds in Belarus According to WHO Data, 2019.

Figure 3. Number of Hospital Beds in Belarus According to Belstat Data, 2019 [5].

Conclusions.

  1. The Ministry of Health and the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus restrict access to statistical information about the state of the healthcare system. Data on the number of hospital beds across all departments were last published for the year 2019, and for the Ministry of Health system, for 2022.
  2. Based on official data available from open sources, it can be concluded that between 2019 and 2023, the number of hospital beds in the Republic of Belarus decreased by 3,475 across all departments, totaling 95,179 at the end of 2023.
  3. The number of beds within the healthcare system decreased by 4,773, while in other departments, it increased by 1,298, resulting in a decrease in the ratio of beds within the Ministry of Health system to the total number of beds—from 76.6% to 74.4%.
  4. The concealment of statistical information and the publication of conflicting or incomplete data diminish public trust in the statements made by representatives of the Ministry of Health.

References.

  1. World Health Organization. (2024). Statement by the representative of the Republic of Belarus. 154th session of the WHO Executive Board Agenda item 6 “Universal health coverage”. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/gb/statements/EB154/PDF/Belarus-6.pdf
  2. Министерство Здравоохранения Республики Беларусь. (2023, December 5). Об определении номенклатуры организаций здравоохранения (Постановление № 183). Retrieved from https://pravo.by/document/?guid=12551&p0=W22340849
  3. Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь. (2017). Статистика здравоохранения. Методологические положения. Retrieved from https://www.belstat.gov.by/upload-belstat/upload-belstat-word/Metod_pologenija/St_zdrav_07_03_2017.doc
  4. Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь. (2024). Численность населения на 1 января 2024 г. и среднегодовая численность населения за 2023 год по Республике Беларусь в разрезе областей, районов, городов, поселков городского типа. Статистический бюллетень.
  5. ГУ «Республиканский научно-практический центр медицинских технологий, информатизации, управления и экономики здравоохранения». (2019). Здравоохранение в Республике Беларусь. Статистический сборник (стр. 30).
  6. Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь. (2023). Регионы Республики Беларусь. Статистический сборник (стр. 385). Retrieved from https://www.belstat.gov.by/upload/iblock/7ee/zsdguwjd5z1qzndz0s115ibke6cn7mxd.pdf#page=385
  7. Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь. (2023). Регионы Республики Беларусь. Статистический сборник (стр. 376). Retrieved from https://www.belstat.gov.by/upload/iblock/7ee/zsdguwjd5z1qzndz0s115ibke6cn7mxd.pdf#page=376
  8. Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь. (2023). Регионы Республики Беларусь. Статистический сборник (стр. 12). Retrieved from https://www.belstat.gov.by/upload/iblock/7ee/zsdguwjd5z1qzndz0s115ibke6cn7mxd.pdf#page=12
  9. Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь. (2023). Регионы Республики Беларусь. Статистический сборник (стр. 97). Retrieved from https://www.belstat.gov.by/upload/iblock/7ee/zsdguwjd5z1qzndz0s115ibke6cn7mxd.pdf#page=97
  10. Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь. (2023). Регионы Республики Беларусь. Статистический сборник (стр. 295). Retrieved from https://www.belstat.gov.by/upload/iblock/7ee/zsdguwjd5z1qzndz0s115ibke6cn7mxd.pdf#page=295
  11. Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь. (2023). Регионы Республики Беларусь. Статистический сборник (стр. 198). Retrieved from https://www.belstat.gov.by/upload/iblock/7ee/zsdguwjd5z1qzndz0s115ibke6cn7mxd.pdf#page=198
  12. Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь. (2023). Регионы Республики Беларусь. Статистический сборник (стр. 486). Retrieved from https://www.belstat.gov.by/upload/iblock/7ee/zsdguwjd5z1qzndz0s115ibke6cn7mxd.pdf#page=486
  13. Министерство здравоохранения Республики Беларусь. (2024). Коллегия министерства здравоохранения. Retrieved from https://minzdrav.gov.by/ru/sobytiya/kollegiya-ministerstva-zdravookhraneniya-2024/
  14. Министерство здравоохранения Республики Беларусь. (2024). Мониторинг учреждений здравоохранения: ситуация на контроле. Retrieved from https://minzdrav.gov.by/ru/sobytiya/monitoring-uchrezhdeniy-zdravookhraneniya-situatsiya-na-kontrole-/
  15. Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь. (2023). Регионы Республики Беларусь. Retrieved from https://www.belstat.gov.by/upload/iblock/7ee/zsdguwjd5z1qzndz0s115ibke6cn7mxd
  16. World Health Organization. (n.d.). Число больничных коек. Пояснения к показателю. Европейский портал информации здравоохранения. Retrieved from https://gateway.euro.who.int/ru/indicators/hfa_477-5051-total-number-of-hospital-beds/#id=19534
  17. World Health Organization. (n.d.). Hospital beds (per 10 000 population). The global health observatory. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/hospital-beds-(per-10-000-population)