Russian Health Service May Need Entrepreneurs

Health service finances and organization in Russia are in such a predicament that they may need an increasing amount of help from entrepreneurs and private health insurance. The plight of the service has been highlighted by Health Minister Tatyana Dmitriyeva, who has been in the job just three months.

Ms Dmitriyeva has complained both that the government has cut health service funding and that the call by the Duma (parliament) for a 50% rise in health care funding is so unrealistic as to threaten "far more tangible schemes," including larger allocations for project financing in the regions and support of federal health care facilities through private health insurance.

Lottery, Business Co-Op Mooted The Minister provided no details of commercial schemes, but local media sources suggested various projects are in the pipeline. Among them is a lottery project to create funds for the health sector and unspecified "business ventures" by manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment to generate funds unrelated to their core business.