“The situation in the health sphere is still unsatisfactory and budget capabilities are extremely limited,” the President said during the meeting. This affects, primarily, the socially unprotected sections of the population who cannot pay for medical services.
According to the President, the inefficiency of Russian insured medicine is explained, first, by the ineffective use of insurance principles in health care and, second, by the failure to ensure the financing of an equal minimum of services on a regional level.
President Putin noted the inadequate financing of medical institutions with regard to the number of beds and the strength of medical personnel. Services provided to a concrete person should become the key criterion. This will benefit patients and doctors alike.
It is also necessary to create a uniform system of standards for insured medicine to rely on. It is especially important to determine a range of guaranteed medical services for pensioners and children.
At the meeting, Mr Putin underlined the need to organise effective control over the resources of the Pension Fund to be allocated this year for medical aid to pensioners and low-income groups of the population.