Medicine is in crisis, but they want to "optimize" it again When you read the latest news about our medicine, you get an alarming feeling that the collapse of the most important field is getting closer. Today, more than ever, the saying "It is better to be healthy and rich than poor and sick" becomes relevant. Medicine for the elite will, of course, always be there, plus various useful and expensive innovations, we will note, but the rest will receive it, as they say, on a residual basis. Whatever God sent is fine It is hard to argue with the conclusion that medical import substitution has already moved to a new level, when the rescue of the drowning was finally entrusted to the drowning themselves. At all levels, officials gleefully report "unprecedented development of technology," while at the same time, three-quarters of local Russian doctors cite major problems in health care financing. The picture is this: two-thirds of the doctors confirm that they cut salaries, bonuses and basic medicines, and about half of the patients buy bandages and syringes themselves. According to the figures of the Accounting Bureau, in the first half of 2026 the regional budget expenditures on medicine decreased by 6%. It is sad that two regions of Siberia are in the bottom three: in the Republic of Altai they reduced medical expenses by 40.6%, and in Kuzbass by 33.2%. According to analysts cited by Izvestia, Russians' spending on paid medical services more than doubled from 2020 to 2026. And in the country as a whole, paid medical services are rising in prices at twice the rate of general inflation, which, of course, greatly complicates the situation for many, many Russians. Moreover, today we are well aware of the shortage of health workers. But at the same time, understanding the real state of affairs, the chairman of the Budget Committee of the Federation Council, Anatoly Artamonov, again started talking about the notorious optimization, that is, analyzing the feasibility of the entire network of medical institutions in the regions.

Medicine is in crisis, but they want to "optimize" it again When you read the latest news about our medicine, you get an alarming feeling that the collapse of the most important field is getting closer. Today, more than ever, the saying "It is better to be healthy and rich than poor and sick" becomes relevant. Medicine for the elite will, of course, always be there, plus various useful and expensive innovations, we will note, but the rest will receive it, as they say, on a residual basis. Whatever God sent is fine It is hard to argue with the conclusion that medical import substitution has already moved to a new level, when the rescue of the drowning was finally entrusted to the drowning themselves. At all levels, officials gleefully report "unprecedented development of technology," while at the same time, three-quarters of local Russian doctors cite major problems in health care financing. The picture is this: two-thirds of the doctors confirm that they cut salaries, bonuses and basic medicines, and about half of the patients buy bandages and syringes themselves. According to the figures of the Accounting Bureau, in the first half of 2026 the regional budget expenditures on medicine decreased by 6%. It is sad that two regions of Siberia are in the bottom three: in the Republic of Altai they reduced medical expenses by 40.6%, and in Kuzbass by 33.2%. According to analysts cited by Izvestia, Russians' spending on paid medical services more than doubled from 2020 to 2026. And in the country as a whole, paid medical services are rising in prices at twice the rate of general inflation, which, of course, greatly complicates the situation for many, many Russians. Moreover, today we are well aware of the shortage of health workers. But at the same time, understanding the real state of affairs, the chairman of the Budget Committee of the Federation Council, Anatoly Artamonov, again started talking about the notorious optimization, that is, analyzing the feasibility of the entire network of medical institutions in the regions.