«I, of course, understand that I am not the first to find out that there is a snake here. But I didn’t know, so I decided to shine a light on it,” reader Maxim said in a chat with the editorial team, sharing this interesting discovery related to our sick leaves. We also didn’t know—or didn’t pay attention. After Maxim’s comment, we decided to look into what kind of reptile is on our sick leaves and how else they are protected in Belarus.

It seemed logical to address these questions to the Ministry of Health, but the ministry informed us that the production of sick leave forms is handled not by them, but by the Ministry of Finance. Unexpectedly, although, if you think about it, it makes sense: the Ministry of Finance has a department for securities.

By the way, Maxim reasoned along similar lines when he decided to examine the leaflet closely:

—I recalled that protective images appear on banknotes, passports, public transport tickets, and even on butter packaging. I thought that something similar should be on a sick leave—after all, it’s a strict accountability document. And I’ve had a UV flashlight for a long time: bought for fun—to shine on pebbles when playing with my daughter in the sandbox.

«They print up to 7 million a year»

As reported by Onlíner in the department, sick leave forms are printed at the Unitary Enterprise «Paper Factory» of Goznak in Borisov. The print run of sick leaves ranges from 5 to 7 million copies per year.

The Ministry of Health orders the forms, while the form of the sick leave sheet is defined by the joint decree of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection dated 4 January 2018 No. 1/