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Refugees from Ukraine find shelter and work in Latvia

2024-11-10 18:50:32, Kosova & Bota CNA

Since the beginning of the Russian aggression, over 160,000 displaced Ukrainians have settled in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The correspondent of the Voice of America, Vladislavs Andrejevs, announces from Riga, Latvia that among the 50 thousand refugees who arrived in this country, there were also many doctors who are employed in the health system of the host country.

This is one of the clinics of the medical center of the capital Riga where four doctors from Ukraine work. They escaped the war and managed to find employment in their profession in Latvia.

Doctor Irina Nikolaeva was born in Latvia, but her family moved to Ukraine in the 1990s. Her older brother stayed in Latvia. The beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine forced the doctor Nikolaeva to leave Odesa and settle in the capital Riga.

"Every day I thought that the conflict would end soon and I would return home. But that didn't happen and I decided to live my life."

As a doctor specializing in diseases of the throat and ears, she had the chance to find work. But she had to confirm her Ukrainian medical degree and license, which took several months, and start learning Latvian.

The Voice of America talked to Mrs. Albina Kovalskaya, who runs the Bolderaja Medical Center, where doctor Nikolaeva works.

"Our center opened its doors to Ukrainian doctors. I think they are quite good. Of course we were afraid. Here, the medical school is different, the approach is different, but they really showed that they were prepared specialists".

Since the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have hosted over 160,000 Ukrainian refugees. About 50,000 of them settled in Latvia and one fifth of them managed to find an office job.

"It's a different country and everything is different here. At first I got anxiety, but after I started work it disappeared. Patients here have the same problems as in Ukraine."

Eye specialist Dmitry Chigrinov says that finding work was easy for him. His hometown in Ukraine was destroyed by war, he says, so the decision to settle in Latvia was easy.

"After the first month of adapting to the country, things become easier, better. I am learning Latvian and trying to improve my understanding of the language. The nurses have helped me a lot."

Nadezhda Shupik from Mariupol was a student when Russia began the aggression. But after six years at the National Institute of Medicine in Kyiv and three years of practice, she is a doctor for women in Latvia.

"My parents, family and friends are still in Ukraine and I talk to them every day. My attention is focused on work, but I can't forget my country and my home".

Latvia has created a special office to help Ukrainians displaced by the war. All refugees enjoy the right to temporary stay in the country./ VOA