Johnson's Russia List
#9054
9 February 2005
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#3
BBC Monitoring
Paediatricians' congress paints bleak picture of children's health in Russia
Source: Radio Mayak, Moscow, in Russian 1500 gmt 8 Feb 05

[Presenter] About half of Russian school-leavers are restricted in their
career choices by health problems, Olga Sharapova, director of a department
in the Health and Social Welfare Ministry, told the 10th congress of
Russian paediatricians. During school years, the number of the children
with chronic illnesses increases by 20 per cent. One young girl in four has
reproduction problems, and only two-thirds of young men are fit for
military service. These sorry figures triggered a sharp discussion among
the doctors. Our correspondent Yekaterina Nekrasova reports.

[Correspondent] The 10th congress of paediatricians, which brought together
children's doctors from all of Russia, has turned into a condemnation of
the state's medical policy. It all started with a report from Olga
Sharapova, director of a department in the Health and Social Welfare
Ministry, who did not try to paint a rosy picture. Seven out of ten babies
are born with health problems, and by the age of 18 the school gives them
three chronic illnesses apiece. In the past 10 years, the number of
disabled children has doubled, while the number of paediatricians to treat
them has shrunk by 10,000. The only thing to be proud of, it seems, is that
mortality among newborn babies has dropped to 1 per cent. Sharapova,
though, hastened to cheer up those present by announcing a series of new
government decisions.

[Sharapova] The most important new measure is the introduction from 2005 of
a monthly payment of R1,000 to disabled children. Some of this money can be
used to provide the disabled child with a set of welfare services,
including provision of necessary medicines as prescribed by doctors,
provision of a voucher for treatment at a health resort, and free commuter
railway travel. An additional subsidy for constituent parts of the Russian
Federation to pay for the travel of disabled children with their parents is
being considered.

[Correspondent] Sharapova also reported that following numerous complaints
from doctors and patients, the government has decided to extend, before the
end of February, the list of vital medicines, including those for disabled
children. In conclusion, Sharapova said ministers were now working on a
separate law on state guarantees of medical help, with the protection of
mother and child a priority.

However, when Aleksandr Baranov, chairman of the Russian Council of
Paediatricians, took the floor after her, he said the congress was not
satisfied with the government's new laws. [Passage omitted.] Under existing
laws, Baranov said, it is to paediatricians' advantage to have as many
children with health problems as possible, because doctors are only paid
for treatment and not for prevention of illnesses. This policy loses the
state billions of roubles.

[Baranov] R3bn a year is spent on preventing iodine deficiency in pregnant
women, breast-feeding mothers and babies. The state's losses in the absence
of prevention of iodine deficiency, however, are R40bn a year.

[Correspondent] Better not calculate what rise in paediatricians' wages the
money saved in this way would have made possible. And it is precisely
because of low wages that the profession is losing personnel, Tula-based
paediatrician Tamara Tarasova said. [Passage omitted.]

The discussion on what the law on protecting children's health should be
like continued at the news conference. The doctors were asked what they
wanted from the new law. It was then that Leonid Roshal took the floor.
Probably only his proximity to supreme power - Roshal is a member of the
human rights commission under the Russian president - emboldened him to
speak his mind. A systematic destruction of the health care system is under
way in Russia, he said. It should receive at least 5 per cent of the GDP,
while at present it only receives 2.7 per cent. City hospitals refuse to
admit children from the countryside because they are not paid for. So what
does the president think, Roshal was asked. The president is not always
given objective information, he replied. His recent meeting with
representatives of the medical circles in Novo-Ogarevo changed a lot in his
position. Vladimir Putin is very worried, and some instructions are likely
to follow. The only bad things, Roshal said, is that the problems that
should be regulated by law have to be resolved for the time being through
personal meetings with the head of state.

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