Challenge accepted: Putin instructed to improve the system of doctors' salaries
Solving demographic problems and saving people will remain a national priority in Russia for years to come. Vladimir Putin stated this on February 18 at a meeting with the government. The quality of life of Russians is directly affected by the development of primary health care, more than 6 thousand new medical institutions have already been built in five years. However, Russians complain that it is still difficult to enroll in women's clinics. It is also not easy to get to some specialized specialists in the regions. Experts and the Cabinet of Ministers recognize that the personnel issue remains the most sensitive for primary care: to solve the problem, the president proposed improving the system of remuneration for medical workers.
What is the main challenge facing the primary healthcare sector?
In the late afternoon of February 18, Vladimir Putin called a meeting with the government via video link. For about an hour and a half, the head of state discussed with the Cabinet of Ministers the modernization of primary health care. For the past six years, a separate program has been implemented in Russia, the task of which is to improve this area of medical care and increase the pace of construction and repair of facilities throughout Russia. These are polyclinics, outpatient clinics, women's clinics, and paramedic and obstetric centers (FAPs), as well as general practitioners' offices and day hospitals. It is the primary healthcare sector in Russia that is experiencing the greatest burden — more than 1 billion visits annually, the Ministry of Health reported earlier.
— Modern, well-equipped hospitals, polyclinics, oncological dispensaries, diagnostic laboratories are important for our citizens, for supporting families, motherhood and childhood, caring for the older generation, for improving the quality of life of our people, in general, for solving the problems of demographic development and saving the people. I would like to emphasize once again that this is our national priority for the years ahead," Vladimir Putin said.
Over 586 billion rubles have been spent on the primary care modernization project over the past five years. With this money, the regions have built more than 6.1 thousand medical facilities. Over 7,8 thousand more were repaired. By 2030, another 3.3 thousand medical institutions will appear, in total, 603 billion rubles will be spent on the program. However, the problem with the availability of medical care remains relevant. Mikhail Kuznetsov, the head of the Popular Front, told Vladimir Putin that it is still difficult for many patients to make an appointment in a short time.
— Yes, the government and the regions have done a lot of work on the modernization and construction of primary care facilities. Half of the patients we interviewed said that their city had either been renovated or a new facility was under construction. However, there are also problems: over the past year, 40% of the surveyed patients have not been able to see a doctor within two weeks. It is most difficult to get into a neurologist, an endocrinologist, an ophthalmologist and a cardiologist," he noted.
There are also complaints about the reduced availability of women's consultations: expectant mothers from rural areas often have to travel for several hours by bus to the clinic. The personnel issue remains one of the most sensitive, especially in the polyclinic health sector and in central district hospitals, Sergei Leonov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection, told Izvestia.
The availability of staff varies by region, but the shortage of doctors remains, however, the adopted law on "working out" for graduates of medical schools and colleges under the guidance of a mentor in municipal medical institutions will help solve the problem, he believes.
At the same time, Mikhail Murashko, the Minister of Health, still insists that the personnel gap has been overcome in five years. According to his estimates, in 2024-2025, the number of doctors increased by 2%, and at the beginning of 2025, there were 313 thousand outpatient doctors. The President added that doctors should work in comfortable conditions, and for this, in particular, the system of remuneration for their work will be improved.
In which regions have new medical facilities been opened?
New healthcare facilities were launched during the meeting. In particular, a regional clinical oncology dispensary has appeared in Smolensk: it will provide high-tech care to patients with malignant neoplasms. The dispensary has more than 570 units of modern medical equipment, including MRI and CT machines.
Another facility is a new building in the Kislovodsk City Hospital. They will provide high-tech medical care in surgical and specialized areas, and conduct teleconferences with leading federal centers. A new polyclinic will open in the village of Trudovoye, Primorsky Krai. Medical services will become more accessible to rural residents, and this will reduce the burden on urban hospitals.
Moreover, patients will have the opportunity to consult highly specialized doctors. This is, for example, a urologist, an otorhinolaryngologist, an endoscopic diagnostic specialist.
A new children's polyclinic has been opened in the village of Pavlovskaya in the Krasnodar Territory. It is designed for 250 visits per shift. On the same day, a Centralized microbiological laboratory was opened in Donetsk, which will perform tests for various medical institutions of the republic. The head of the Ministry of Health clarified that in the DPR there was a problem with conducting microbiological research, which is necessary to provide assistance at both outpatient and inpatient stages. In addition, Donbass and Novorossiya have now fully implemented the compulsory medical insurance (CHI) system.
— The rights of citizens are respected everywhere in the new territories. And today, new subjects and patients have the opportunity to receive the same care in federal clinics in neighboring regions, it is available," Mikhail Murashko said.
According to Vladimir Putin, modern digital technologies must be introduced into Russian medicine today. This will reduce the risk of medical errors, increase the accuracy of diagnosis and the effectiveness of care. As an example, he cited Moscow, which turned out to be a leader in the introduction of digital technologies in medicine. The capital, for example, has provided an opportunity for doctors in 74 regions of the Russian Federation to use their AI services to make diagnoses. And now the number of patients from the regions who have used them is almost four times the number of Muscovites.
Small and medium-sized businesses can apply for credit holidays
However, other issues were also raised at the meeting. In particular, it became known that 1.7 million contracts for social gasification have been signed to date, and gas has been delivered free of charge to the borders of almost 1.5 million households.
More than 18,000 gardening non-profit partnerships (SNTS) are connected to it under the dogasification program. Gazprom has already signed financing agreements for more than 500 billion rubles for the free supply of "blue fuel" to the boundaries of land plots.
Meanwhile, starting from October 1, 2025, small and medium-sized businesses can apply for credit holidays. They can now be obtained to defer payment on a loan without penalties for a period of six months, said the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina.
— And what is important is that these credit holidays are now valid regardless of the industry in which small or medium—sized businesses operate. There are, of course, limits on the size of the loan for which a deferral is granted, but these limits are quite high and the vast majority of loans fall under it," she said.
The maximum amount depends on the size of the business: up to 10 million rubles for the self—employed, up to 60 million for microenterprises, up to 400 million for small companies, up to 1 billion for medium—sized ones.
According to the chairman of the Central Bank, the regulator monitors more than 30 major banks. From October to December, 9,5 thousand credit holidays were issued in the amount of 51 billion rubles. Previously, another 2.5 thousand credit holidays worth 10 billion rubles were opened in January. The total volume of loan restructuring for small and medium-sized businesses is significantly higher, as lenders offer their own assistance programs.
In general, Nabiullina noted that Russian banks have enough capital to restructure loans and additionally increase borrowing for the economy.
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