| We need to talk more carefully about healthcare reform Yesterday, the heads of the country's main medical department were able to assess the level of awareness of Russian society about the upcoming health care reforms. Moreover, the president himself acted as a “representative sample”, to whom, as it turned out, like, for example, the majority of Russian pensioners, only echoes of the statements of officials of the Ministry of Health and Social Development reach. And just like pensioners, these remarks, transformed to the level of rumors, seem to have shocked Vladimir Putin.
At yesterday's meeting of the head of state with members of the government, the president could not stand it and demanded clarification from Mikhail Zurabov, who decisively undertook to reform the entire social system of the country at a sprint speed. “Somewhere there was your statement that patients in hospitals have nothing to do for more than five days. What did you mean? - Mr. Putin asked the head of the Ministry of Health and Social Development. In response, the president heard a short report on one of the main goals of the healthcare modernization currently being prepared by the Ministry - reducing the cost of treatment in hospitals.
At the same time, Mr. Zurabov tried to prove that he was not offering anything fundamentally new, since the program for the development of domestic healthcare, approved back in 1995, declared that for maximum efficiency in the organization of medical care, about 20-25% of its volume should be “intensive” therapeutic beds" in hospitals. At the same time, the duration of intensive therapy, carried out with the help of modern equipment and high-quality medicines, should not exceed 5-7 days on average, instead of the current two weeks of often rather pointless stay in hospitals, which is beneficial not for the patients themselves, but for the head doctors who receive “per diems” for maintenance of patients from the compulsory health insurance system. In addition, the minister explained that in parallel with the intensification of the use of beds in hospitals, his department intends to shift the emphasis to disease prevention, outpatient treatment and subsequent sanatorium-resort rehabilitation. And, of course, all this does not mean at all that a one-week period for a hospital stay will be harsh for everyone and patients will be discharged after seven days, regardless of diagnosis and condition.
The reassured president heeded the minister’s explanations, but strongly advised him to be “more careful in his statements” when explaining his department’s initiatives. “We can approach these standards if we really improve the technical state of medicine. Medical institutions should not understand this to mean that after five days any patient will be dismissed,” Vladimir Putin emphasized. Meanwhile, Mikhail Zurabov tried to finally relieve himself of responsibility for the unnecessary worries of the head of state. “My wording was extremely comprehensive,” he said, explaining that the media, which allegedly misinterpreted his words, were to blame for Mr. Putin’s unrest.
Blaming the shortcomings of information support for the upcoming reform on journalists is, of course, the easiest way out. Although this is unlikely to eliminate the much more significant counter-flow of complaints from the medical community about the behind-the-scenes and speedy preparation of the reform, which, both literally and figuratively, can become one of the most painful for Russians. Even public organizations that generally support the ideology of Mr. Zurabov’s department consider the propaganda activities of the Ministry of Health and Social Development to be clearly insufficient. “We are talking about the upcoming redistribution of funds in favor of the outpatient clinical and preventive sector, which receive practically nothing from the very modest money allocated by the state for healthcare. Today, our hospitals consume up to 60% of funds, while, for example, in Europe their share accounts for on average no more than 40%. But people must first be explained in a popular manner why it is more profitable for them to receive help in a clinic, and not in hospitals, which in our country, due to a lack of medicines, sometimes simply resemble bad hotels. And don’t scare them with promises to reduce the length of stay in a bed to 5 days,” said Alexander Saversky, head of the public organization League of Defenders of Patients’ Rights, in a conversation with a Vremya Novostei correspondent. In his opinion, it is precisely because of the lack of publicity in the work of reformers and the lack of regular contacts with the medical community and public organizations (reminiscent of an interrogation with bias, speeches by an official of the Ministry of Health and Social Development in the State Duma do not count) that many initiatives of members of Mikhail Zurabov’s team seem to be an attempt on the life of 41- th article of the Constitution, guaranteeing all Russians free and accessible medical care. Oleg VOLKOV |
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