Alexander Khadzhayew

Alexander Valeryevich Khodjaev (also transliterated as Aleksandr Khodjaev; ; born in 1980) is a Belarusian psychiatrist and politician. He is the incumbent Minister of Health of the Republic of Belarus.

Early life Khodjaev was born in 1980 in Lyepyel, then part of the Vitebsk region in the Byelorussian SSR. His father, Valery Khodjaev, worked as the chief physician of the Lepel district hospital and at the health department of the regional executive committee of Lepel. He then worked as the general director of Belmedtechnika before becoming, in 2010, the First Deputy Minister of Health, although he formally retired from the position and became general director of Pskov Pharma. From 2005 to 2008, he was a pathologist at the center after completing his training. His dissertation was on the topic of the psychotherapy of pregnant women during childbirth, which took two attempts to successfully defend. After graduating, he worked as the leading laboratory assistant at the Department of Psychotherapy and Medical Psychology at the medical academy for a year. In May 2021 he was appointed director of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Mental Health, which he held until his appointment to the post of Minister of Health. Around the same time he also became the chief freelance psychiatrist of the Ministry of Health. During his time there, he criticized the Western psychiatric treatment model where patients decide if they want medical service, and instead advocated for the state to immediately intervene. Political career Minister of Health On 25 January 2024, he was appointed Minister of Health of Belarus, succeeding Dmitry Pinevich. To alleviate this, Khodjaev announced the cancellation of the reconfirmation of qualification categories for medical workers at retirement age in June 2024. Independent medical organizations like ByMedSol and the Medical Solidarity Fund, however, reported the number of personnel remained about the same. In September 2024 he signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Russia in the field of disaster medicine and also aimed at conducting joint educational and training events.

Personal life He is married to Alla Khodjaeva, a lawyer who works at ExportMegaTrans, a cargo transportation company. They live in the town of Lesnoy near Minsk.