We’re well into the second decade of the 21st century, but Russia’s regional healthcare system remains ill. Some of its symptoms survive from the Soviet period, others came as a result of post-Soviet reforms.
A good example can be found south of the Urals. Bashkortostan, a republic of some four million, has a healthcare system exhibiting the entire spectrum of problems that plague Russian healthcare in general. Patients complain of huge lines at local clinics and the avalanche of new paid services in local hospitals. Doctors resent their low salaries and endless “optimisations” of medical institutions, which slash jobs in favour of outsourcing.
According to a poll conducted by the pro-Kremlin Union of Rural Youth and the United People’s Front, Bashkortostan is one of several regions dealing with the brunt of worsening medical care. If you speak to the region’s doctors, they’ve few illusions that things can improve.
