(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in Russia have a poor opinion of their medical services, according to a poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center. 62 per cent of respondents are dissatisfied with the public health care system, and an additional 73 per cent think it is not possible to get good medical care in Russia.

Russian voters renewed the State Duma in December 2007. United Russia (YR)—whose candidate list was headed by then president Vladimir Putin—secured 64.1 per cent of the vote and 315 of the legislature’s 450 seats. The Communist Party (KPRF) finished second with 11.6 per cent of the vote and 57 seats, followed by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) with 40 seats, and the opposition movement A Just Russia with 38 seats.

Putin eventually endorsed Dmitry Medvedev as a presidential candidate, and Medvedev said it would be of the "utmost importance" to have Putin as prime minister. In March, Medvedev easily won Russia’s presidential election with 70.28 per cent of the vote. In May, Medvedev was sworn in as president. His nomination of Putin as prime minister was confirmed by the State Duma in a 392-56 vote.

In the Soviet Union, all citizens were eligible to receive free health care. Since 1991, the Russian Federation has kept the state-run system, but financing has fallen by about 35 per cent and patients must sometimes pay for some medical procedures themselves. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Russia ranks 130th in terms of the effectiveness of its health care system.

In July, Alexandra Vacroux, a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center—an American think tank—offered her views on the state of Russia’s health care system, declaring, "Ministry of Health officials are not that familiar with what is happening on the ground. Moreover, there is increasing disparity in the quality of health care systems across the regions, and no effective system to equalize [them]." Vacroux also said that while Putin poured vast amounts of money into the national health care system to implement reforms, "it’s unclear if Medvedev will have the power and desire to undertake potentially unpopular reforms."

Polling Data

Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the public health care system in Russia?

Do you think you, or other members of your family, can obtain good medical care in Russia?

Source: Yury Levada Analytical Center
Methodology: Interviews with 1,600 Russian adults, conducted from Aug. 9 and Aug. 10, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

Archive Search

Over 19,600 Polls
Search the Angus Reid Global Monitor Polls & Research archive.