Implementation of the National Project “Heallth”
On February 25, 2009, at its meeting the Presidium of the Council under the RF President on implementation of priority national projects and demographic policy considered the 2008 outputs of the project “Health” and ruled that it would be extended through 2012.
As in the previous years, assessing effectiveness of the National Project implementation poses a complex challenge. As the Project was formed as a cash-consuming one, its measures are aimed at improvement of individual elements of the medical aid delivery system. Thus, it is problematic to single out the effect the incurred costs had on changes in indicators of the population’s health.
It is planned to allocate Rb. 148.8bn on the Project implementation in 2009 The list of its directions has been complemented by measures on formation of a healthier lifestyle.
Meanwhile, the analysis of the Project implementation in 2008 and its 2009 objectives proves rectitude of conclusions made over the past two years – this project is incapable of securing a substantial progress in addressing fundamental challenges that face the national healthcare system. Such problems as poor indicators of the population’s health, its loose protection from risks of incurring costs of treatment, inequity in distribution of the burden of such costs and in availability of medical aid between different social and territorial groups, a low efficiency of the healthcare system cannot be remedied without sweeping transformations in the organization and financing of healthcare. To this end the National Project lacks financial resources, nor it provides for any large-scale institutional modifications.
S. Shishkin, Head, Department of the Economy of the Social Sphere