Russian Healthcare Structure Overview and statistics
Russian Healthcare system is known to be flawed and its standards are well under the Western medical standards. The backbone of the Russian Healthcare system has been developed before the 1990s, when it had under control the medical situation of the whole country. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the states that now form the Russian Federation, including Russia still find it difficult to improve the quality of their medical services.
Theoretically, every Russian has access to the public healthcare services as they are all entitled to the Obligatory Medical Insurance, which consists of 2% to 3% of the wage and is deducted by employers into a social tax that ends up in the Russian Healthcare Fund. Practically, due to lack of funding of the medical sector, the compulsory insurance does not cover most of the treatments and the patients have to pay from their own pockets for all the medical services they have been provided with, unless in case of emergency when an ambulance is needed. Moreover, due to the high prices of private insurance and the low incomes households have, only around 5% of Russians subscribe to the Voluntary Health Insurance, as well, in order to get more control over their medical treatment by choosing the hospital or clinic where to perform it, and by shortening the waiting times. The prices for the Voluntary Health Insurance vary from 135 USD to 610 USD per month, while the average Russian household monthly income is 320 USD.
According to information from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, in 2012, the Russian Federation had 4.9 doctors and 7.5 nurses per 1000 people. The number of doctors is higher than OECD countries’ average number of only 3.2, while the number of nurses is under the OECD countries’ average of just 8.8. Russia’s number of hospital beds per 1000 people has fallen from 11.4 in 2000 to 9.3 in 2012, which is almost twice the average number of beds of OECD member countries have, respectively 4.8, even with a higher number of doctors and hospital beds, the Russian healthcare system still does not respond to the needs of the patients.
According to WHO (World Health Organisation), in terms of psychiatric facilities, there are only 8.4 psychiatrists, 2.4 social workers and 4.6 psychologists per 100.000 people.