It is necessary to be treated: only 0.07% of disabled children receive help in sanatoriums

More than 3.5 million schoolchildren cannot go for sanatorium treatment, a working group at the Human Rights Council said. In addition, only 0.07% of disabled children receive the help they need in sanatoriums. This situation arose against the background of insufficient financing of the industry. At the same time, the workload of sanatoriums in 2025 is only 47.5%. According to experts, the limiting factor was the increase in prices for travel packages — on average, more than 100 thousand rubles per person. The current state of Russian health resorts is described in the Izvestia article.

Why don't children receive treatment in sanatoriums

Only 0.07% of disabled children in Russia receive the help they need in sanatoriums, said Yan Vlasov, co-chairman of the All-Russian Union of Public Associations of Patients, during a meeting of the HRC. According to him, this situation arose against the background of insufficient financing of the industry.

— The sanatorium-resort treatment industry, in fact, ceased to exist with the collapse of the Soviet Union, — Yan Vlasov told Izvestia. — The number of shared beds in sanatoriums has since decreased more than tenfold: from 1.5 million to about 150 thousand. Of these, only a quarter are beds for children. Due to lack of funding, many children's camps and sanatoriums lost their rehabilitation facilities - they were either sold or transferred to other forms of ownership. In addition, they actually stopped paying for children. There is not enough budget, social institutions have almost stopped allocating funds — everything has fallen on the shoulders of the regions. And the social budgets there aren't the biggest either.

In addition, more than 3.5 million schoolchildren cannot receive sanatorium treatment, said Alexander Razumov, head of the S.I. Spasokukotsky City Clinical Hospital of the Moscow Department of Health during a meeting of the working group.

The health level of Russian schoolchildren is extremely low, Yan Vlasov confirmed to Izvestia. According to him, only 10% of high school graduates can be considered completely healthy, although 70% of children did not have any diseases when they entered school.

— Such a report was made several years ago at the Russian Academy of Sciences. We were very scared by this figure. It turns out that the school cannot preserve the health of children. Based on this, students, for example, are shown rehabilitation in special health camps during the summer holidays, where there is a regime, proper nutrition, where medical specialists work with them," the expert said.

Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Health about the number of children with disabilities and schoolchildren in Russia who receive sanatorium treatment.

The sanatorium-resort industry is focused on treating the consequences of diseases, while the most powerful tool, prevention, remains on the periphery, said Natalia Mokina, head of the Department of the International University of Regenerative Medicine. It is really important now that a healthy person becomes the object of preventive medicine, Alexander Razumov agreed.

At the same time, the workload of sanatoriums in 2025 is only 47.5%, said Larisa Popovich, director of the Institute of Health Economics at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. This situation has developed due to the high prices for travel packages that not every Russian can afford.

So, one day in a sanatorium (together with treatment and three meals a day) will cost an average of 10 thousand rubles. And the cost of a trip per person will exceed 100 thousand, the participants calculated during the meeting of the working group.

How are the activities of sanatoriums regulated?

The sanatorium-resort complex is part of the healthcare system, said Darzha Badluev, Deputy director of the Department of Medical Care and Sanatorium-resort Affairs of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, during a speech at the HRC.

— A sanatorium-resort complex is understood as a set of facilities and activities that provide treatment, rehabilitation and rehabilitation of citizens, prevention of diseases with the help of natural healing resources, — he explained. — Any resort region is our unique natural healing resource.

The law "On natural healing resources, health-improving areas and resorts" clearly structures all approaches to their definition, the official added.

— We have resorts and resort regions. As of July 2025, about 35 Russian regions have granted 138 resorts regional status. In September, the Ministry of Health issued a list that included resorts requiring additional research. Today, resorts are undergoing a state safety assessment in order to receive a special medical report. We have a pilot region — Krasnodar Territory, Gelendzhik resort. Sochi will be the next resort," he said.

Today, the resort business is one of the most developing areas, and "from the point of view of regulatory regulation, we have come to a certain result," said Darzha Badluev.

What is the condition of the health resorts?

The sanatorium and resort industry in 2024 showed record volumes in terms of the number of vacationers — more than 7 million people, Mikhail Danilov, medical director of the Association of Wellness Tourism and Corporate Health, told Izvestia. According to him, such values have not been observed in the last 20 years.

— The relative limitations of outbound tourism and the growing interest in traveling in Russia have led to an increase in the flow of tourists. In addition, sanatoriums are developing modern trends and services, including new methods of physiotherapy treatment," the expert noted.

Mikhail Danilov called the constant increase in the cost of maintaining health facilities one of the frequent problems faced by sanatoriums. Because of this, the owners of sanatoriums are forced to raise prices.

— Another problem is the shortage of personnel. Since the sanatorium requires highly qualified medical staff, they compete with polyclinics and hospitals, including private ones, where salaries are much higher," Mikhail Danilov noted.

There is an acute shortage of balneologists and rehabilitologists in the country, Yan Vlasov confirmed. Previously, these specialties were taught to students of medical universities — now there are only advanced training courses for doctors.

— Accordingly, the output of specialists is very small. It was reported that 13 thousand specialists had completed such advanced training courses, but only 3 thousand were employed. As a result, we do not have enough infrastructure where spa treatment can be carried out, there are no specialists and there is no money to fix this system," the VSP co-chairman said in an interview with Izvestia.

In 2022, Russian hotels were exempt from VAT, and sanatoriums lost their advantages. Now they are forced to compete in price with hotels for country holidays, while also offering medical services, Mikhail Danilov recalled.

"This makes health facilities vulnerable in a competitive market, where the development of the hotel sector is proceeding at a faster pace than the construction of new facilities in the sanatorium—resort sector," he explained. — In addition, a very large volume of sanatorium-resort facilities has remained since the Soviet era and has high signs of deterioration.

Moreover, at least 70% of sanatoriums in Russia need renovation of rooms and infrastructure. There are 1,800 health resorts in the country, but only 15-20% of them have a relatively modern infrastructure. Almost all sanatoriums, with the exception of 40-50 facilities, were built before 1990.

Federal Fund for the Development of Resorts

Following the meeting of the working group in the HRC, the participants proposed the creation of a Federal Fund for the Development of resorts, the financing of which will be multi—channel - from government subsidies and profits from excise taxes on harmful products to private investment.

— If we formulate rational proposals, we can get support. Proposals should be made in the field of organization and development of the sanatorium industry, its optimization, and attracting non-governmental investments in the sanatorium business. The upcoming meeting with the president is very important, as following the results of the event, the head of the country will announce dozens of instructions," said Valery Fadeev, Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Human Rights Council.

In addition, it is necessary to develop a centralized management system for the sanatorium and resort industry, the participants of the meeting agreed. According to Alexander Razumov, at least 18 regions of Russia are currently overseeing the work of sanatoriums, while the Ministry of Health does not regulate it, but is partly involved in shaping policy.

In particular, Sergey Chernogaev, chairman of the All-Russian Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, proposed creating a common database for sanatoriums so that patients could receive treatment based on past analyses and recommendations without re-diagnosis.