Rational market relations in the modern Russian healthcare: practitioners' experience (Part I)
The challenging process of Russian healthcare reforms includes development of the healthcare concept (up to 2020) by the Ministry of Health and Social Development. The reforms are planned by prominent health managers and economy scientists who are well-recognised theorists but rarely, if ever, visit medical clinics and hospitals. As these experts have contradictory views on the Russian healthcare concept, we propose that the opinion of practitioners, such as the authors of this article, who have been working at hospital and treating patients on daily basis for several decades, has its own professional value and potential to improve prevention and treatment quality. Should the Russian healthcare be free of charge, according to Article 41 of the Russian Federation Constitution, or should it be based on market health insurance, according to the Head of the High School of Economics, Mr E.G. Yasin? At the moment, this is the main point of debates on the Russian healthcare concept. The authors believe that for the patients' sake, the Russian healthcare system should combine both approaches.