Russian healthcare, healthcare reform, COVID-19 pandemic, financing problems

• Guzel E. Ulumbekova

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has identified such health problems in the Russian Federation and most developed countries as: shortage of hospital beds, medical staff and personal protective equipment; disintegration of management between the center and the regions; slowness of health care financing systems. But for the healthcare in Russia the situation was incomparably worse, because by the time the epidemic began, it was already in critical condition due to untalented reforms of recent years (the notorious optimization), because of long-term underbudgeting, disempowered position of medical workers. At the same time, the fight against epidemic came upon their shoulders, as well as upon all frontline health care workers. And absolute majority of them have fulfilled and continue to fulfill their duty. This also led to death of 100 of medical workers.

Following all these events, the country's leadership and society are not entitled to continue the policy of previous years. This means that it is necessary to prepare the Healthcare Reform Program, which will allow in the new conditions (protracted nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and decline in real incomes for the majority population of the Russian Federation) preserve its sustainability and correct impossible situation with medical workers, thereby ensuring social stability.

The main proposals to reform the healthcare sector of the Russian Federation for 2020-2022: 1) increase in wages and ensuring occupational safety of medical workers; 2) increasing government funding for healthcare up to 6% of gross domestic product (GDP); 3) transition to payment of medical organizations according to estimate and reorganization of medical care insurance funds in financial departments of state health authorities; 4) creation of a single healthcare management vertical under the leadership of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation with subordination to it of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance service; 5) creation of a global system of medicine provision on an outpatient basis; 6) providing conditions for a system of continuing medical education and improving the quality of student training in medical universities and colleges; 7) an increase in funding for medical science by 3 times (from 0.04 to 0.12% of GDP); 8) ensuring the constant preparedness of the healthcare system for crisis situations.

Keywords:Proposals for health care reform in the Russian Federation after reaching the COVID-19 pandemic peak

All articles in our journal are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0 license)