Komsomolskaya Pravda: "Medical care requires treatment"
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin holds a meeting devoted to National Health Project
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin quoted some figures at a meeting devoted to the National Health Project. In 2000, the health care system received 225 billion roubles, whereas the figure rose to 1.5 trillion roubles in 2009. A total of 453 billion roubles have been allocated for this project alone. Meanwhile, 100 billion roubles have been spent on free medicine and compensation for veterans and incapacitated people. The ambulance fleet has also been upgraded by 70%. Now, high tech medical assistance is available to 60% of the population, compared to only 10% earlier.
"Some things have been done, but we have only resolved the most urgent issues," Putin said. "Sociological polls show that a mere 33% of people are content with the quality of medical services. So, we must continue upgrading this level."
Putin believes that high quality medical services must be available in any town or village and money should not be wasted when "it is allocated for the upkeep of medical institutions rather than assistance to concrete people." It is essential to clearly determine a list of free services, he added, stressing that it should cover "all necessary procedures from diagnostics and treatment to recovery."
The prime minister also demanded that serious attention be paid to preventing diseases. It is wrong "to wait until someone gets sick and only then administer treatment," he explained.
"However, changes in a sphere as sensitive as health care must be gradual, careful, and balanced, and in line with the well-known medical principle: 'First, do no harm,'" Putin concluded.
Larisa Kaftan
