Moscow Plans to Restrict Ability of Russians to Seek Medical Treatment beyond Their Own Region of Residence

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Mar. 28 – Even as Putin’s closure of numerous medical facilities across the country to save money for his war in Ukraine has reduced access to care for many Russians, the Russian health ministry now is planning to restrict such access still further, a move that will mean ever more Russians who have the most serious diseases will suffer and die.
    Up to now, Russians who want to go to another part of the country for treatment of cancer or other serious diseases need get  only the recommendation of their local doctor. But as of September, if current plans hold, they will have to receive the approval of special medical boards (medvestnik.ru/content/news/V-Rossii-hotyat-ujestochit-usloviya-polucheniya-specializirovannoi-medpomoshi-v-drugom-regione.html).
    These bodies can be counted on to be less supportive of applications than the personal doctors of those suffering from various illnesses. Like Putin’s healthcare “optimization” program, that will save the Russian government money but only at the cost of increasing suffering in regions far from Moscow or other major centers.
    Because this suffering and deaths will take place far from the capital and thus can be obscured from an all-Russian audience, the Kremlin is likely to assume that it will get away with this latest “cost-saving” measure.  But it is entirely possible that this latest form of medical serfdom will spark a backlash especially among opposition political activists.
    If that happens, it will be only the latest example of the Putin regime shooting itself in the foot, a pattern that challenges the widely held view that the Kremlin incumbent is a master politician. He has succeeded against the West and at home up to now, but the chances he will be able to continue to do so, at least with regard to Russia itself are declining.