Healthcare Outside of Moscow Deteriorating because of Putin’s Policies

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 13 – Russians in major cities live longer than those in poorer regions of the country at least in part because the latter cannot get the treatment they need locally, a problem that has increased because of Putin’s healthcare optimization program and cutbacks in services as a result of his war in Ukraine.

            That is the conclusion of a Radio Liberty survey of healthcare across the Russian Federation, something that has always been unequal but now is more unequal than ever before (svoboda.org/a/geografiya-vyzhivaniya-pochemu-v-rossii-shans-na-lechenie-zavisit-ot-mesta-zhiteljstva/33742767.html).

            Among the many examples the service gives is access to MRI technology, something that plays a critical role in the early detection and treatment of cancer. In Moscow, there are more than three times as many such apparatuses as there are in Tyva, and breakdowns in the latter thus create bottlenecks in diagnostics and treatment.

            “The disparity in access to medical care between the capitals and the provinces,” the journalists say, “arises and is intensified due to the meager nature of most local budgets, which are simply incapable of contributing their fair share to healthcare funding at an adequate level,” Radio Liberty reports.

            These regional budgetary problems have a particular impact on the treatment of diseases not covered under Russia’s mandatory health insurance scheme. “These include among others psychiatry, tuberculosis treatment, HIV care and the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.”

            The federal subjects also bear primary responsibility “for palliative care, rehabilitation services, and sanatorium-resort treatment.” As a result of Putin’s optimization and the costs of the war, Russians everywhere are receiving poorer healthcare, but those beyond the ring road are suffering the most.