Simply astounding. And this is happening in the Moscow suburbs, a wealthy region that allocates 176 billion rubles a year to healthcare.
The medical trade union Doctors’ Alliance asked for help with a film crew. Their representative went to a hospital meeting in the town of Vidnoye, where the chief physician is putting pressure on ordinary staff: many have been fired, those who are unhappy are being threatened, and so on.
It’s a classic case of “optimization.” For example, the infectious diseases ward was shut down, and residents of Vidnoye were told to go to the hospital in Domodedovo instead.
This is happening all over the country now, but what is truly shocking is the chief physician’s reaction to the union representative:
- I’LL CALL THE FSB RIGHT NOW, YOU’RE LIKE TERRORISTS.
Russia, 2018. Complaints about people being fired, wages being cut, and the lack of essential medicines are now being treated as terrorism.