Nearly 90 Percent of Russians Say They’ve Been Affected by the Growing Shortage of Doctors in Their Country

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Apr. 2 – A recent poll found that 86 percent of Russian say they’ve felt the impact of the growing shortage of doctors, which the health ministry says now amounts to more than 23,000. Some Russians say they can no longer find any doctor nearby but many more say they cannot get to a needed specialist.
    A major reason for these shortcomings in Russian healthcare is Vladimir Putin’s “optimization” program which has shuttered medical facilities in many parts of the country and concentrated specialists in only a few places in order to save money so that it can be spent on his war in Ukraine (svpressa.ru/blogs/article/457799/).
    But that is not the only reason for this humanitarian disaster. In just over half of the federal subjects of the Russian Federation, more doctors have left in recent years than arrived; and more than a third of the graduates of Russian medical schools are not prepared to work in government medical institutions, largely because of low pay and long hours.
    And yet another cause is what was supposed to be a solution: the use of the Internet to allow for diagnoses and treatments  from a distance. Many doctors dislike that system because it reduces them to technicians and forces them to accept blame for what the machines do, something that makes everyone unhappy.
    So far Russian politicians have come up with no better idea than to force graduates of medical schools to work as doctors where the government assigns them for a number of years after graduation. That system, which would restore one from the Soviet era, is deeply unpopular and might have the effect of reducing the number of those seeking to become doctors further.