I was under the impression that India is the only country which provides one of the poorest health care to its citizens. As we all know in India a poor man can die of Malaria at the doorsteps of a hospital, even though it costs less than a Rupee to buy a course of chloroquine. Also, it is in India, when poor patients are kicked out of the hospital corridors, while few other with some public influence enjoy VIP treatment. However, a recent article by Mark G. Field, Professor of sociology at Boston University published in Wilson ‘Quarterly, points its fingers at another country. It says that Soviet Union is also one of those countries which provide very primitive healthcare to its nationals.

Field estimated that Russia’s total healthcare expenditures are only 10% of USA for a population about 15 percent larger. Though Russia has plenty of hospitals and hospital beds, but these are generally without basic equipment required to treat the patients, It generally takes a week or more to get simple blood tests or x-ray’s. The entire country has only few analysis machines. Virtually the hospitals in Russia serve a dormitories for sick people as in most of the cases they don’t receive any treatment, “If American hospitals sometimes do too much for their patients, Soviet hospitals are guilty of doing too little,” reports Field,

Due to lack of equipment and necessary skills, Soviet Surgeons could perform only 800 coronary bypass operations as compared to 137,000 in USA in 1984, Field reported that every hospital in Russia has “death quota” which if exceeded, can bring an investigator from Moscow. In order to stay away from such harassment, Soviet hospitals are reluctant to admit seriously ill patients, preferring them to die at home, In the 1983 Soviet novel, “A ship of windows” a stroke patient is kicked away from hospital doors by a doctor who says, “We can’t effort to keep incurables, We must account for every bed.”

The condition in areas covered by rural polyclinics is still worse. These clinics frequently run short of absorbent cotton, bandages, thermometers and Iodine. Physicians from USA who visited Russia few years ago, reported doctors and nurses receiving bribes in exchange for scarce medicines. People could be easily seen asking foreign visitors for medicines unavailable in Russia.

So much so, a West German company recently started manufacturing wheelchairs in Soviet Union. Thank God! Now the sick people, unable to walk can enjoy the luxury of sitting in wheelchairs rather than being carried out on a stretcher.

Physicians are used to subdue Political activists fighting for human rights, Soviet psychiatry is known for declaring innocent political opponents to Kremlins as mad or insane. They are then placed in mental institutions for the rest of their lives,

‘No wonder Mrs, Bonner wife of Andrie Sakharov, had to struggle for so many years to get out of Russia to receive medical treatment for her ailing eyes and heart. But how many others can afford such luxury? Soviet Union may surpass USA in deploying deadly missiles, but it has utterly failed to provide even the basic amenities to its citizens, Poor Russians continue to suffer from, what is called the world’s oldest system of socialized.

Article extracted from this publication >> Article extracted from this publication >> January 3, 1986