Emergency Medical Services, Now More Important than Ever in Russia Because of Putin’s Optimization Program, Bleeding Staff and Failing to Get Equipment

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 31 – Emergency medical services, including ambulances capable of giving first aid and carrying those who need it to hospitals for further treatment, were supposed to be the key link that would ensure that Russians who have seen local medical services disappear as a result of Putin’s healthcare “optimization” program received adequate treatment.

            But in fact, these services have been nearly destroyed by the policies of the Putin regime. Salaries have been cut by as much as 50 percent, and staff often have to turn to self-funding measures to provide equipment; and as a result, an increasing number of doctors and nurses involved have quit.

            That is the finding of a new study of the situation EMS workers face that was carried out  by The Replica internet portal (thereplica.io/post/emergency-medical-service-crisis) and that has now been reposted at doxa.team/articles/emergency-medical-service-are-losing-staff). Given the lack of official data on this problem, its findings, albeit anecdotal, are devastating.

            Ambulance teams responsible for numerous villages which no longer have medical personal in them are frequently without the staff and equipment they need, and so all the hype about efficient coming out of Kremlin outlets is just that because it is coming at the cost of suffering by Russians who aren’t able to make it to the remaining hospitals.