A rally was held in Moscow in defense of affordable healthcare

In Moscow in the Novopushkinsky square, a rally was held in defense of affordable health care, which gathered about 200 people. This was reported on Twitter by the coordinator of the Left Front Sergey Udaltsov. In addition to Moscow, promotions are held in Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk and other cities.

“At the rally, we distribute invitations to the social march on March 2. The police behave calmly,” Udaltsov writes. After the action, he will go to court, where the request of the Investigative Committee will be considered to change his preventive measure for house arrest.

The rally is supported by the Union of Major Workers "Action", the Protective Union, the magazine "Skepticism" and a number of State Duma and Moscow City Duma deputies. The organizers of the rally believe that the availability and quality of assistance as a result of modernization of the healthcare system is worsening. Since the beginning of 2013, only emergency medical care and outpatient care have remained free when contacting a therapist.

Over the past year, such medical institutions as a children's eye sanatorium at the Morozov hospital, a children's infectious diseases hospital No. 12, a children's infectious diseases hospital No. 8, an infectious building of the city clinical hospital No. 4 and others were liquidated. As a result, the availability and quality of medical care is reduced. The number of dismissal and translations of health workers to places with the worst working conditions and with a decrease in wages is growing. In 2012, about 50 thousand doctors left the profession.

On the eve of the interregional campaign "Together - for decent medicine" the first shares were held in Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg. In Yekaterinburg, the action of solidarity with the union of health workers "Action" was held in the form of a series of single pickets at the central entrance to Medgorodok. Participants in the action distributed leaflets among health workers returning after a working day and random passers -by.

In St. Petersburg, the action took place on Krestovsky Island at the entrance to the city hospital No. 31, which became known due to the stubborn struggle for its preservation. Although officials gave public promises not to close the hospital and not transfer it to the service of the Supreme Court, fears remain for her further fate.

On Tuesday, the Minister of Health Valentina Skvortsova said that the crossing of the Supreme and Higher Arbitration Courts to St. Petersburg would not affect either the 31st clinical hospital or other medical institutions of the city.

The appearance of information about the closure of the hospital caused large -scale protests. Since January 18, at the walls of the institution, as well as on Nevsky Prospekt and Smolny, single pickets were held with a demand to preserve the GKB No. 31. On January 20, a popular gathering took place near the hospital, which gathered more than 300 people, on January 23, a coordinated picket, where 2 thousand participants came, and on February 3, the agreed rally. In parallel, the collection of signatures on the Internet began. More than 115 thousand citizens spoke in defense of the hospital.

Against the backdrop of protests, the authorities were forced to reconsider their decision. The administration of St. Petersburg said that it offered the federal center plots in different areas of the city for building a clinic. A commission of the Ministry of Health has left for the city to consider alternative options for placing the judicial clinic. As a result, on January 23, the press secretary of the Presidential Administration, Viktor Khrekov, said that GKB No. 31 of his department is no longer considered.