UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 28, 2015. Healthcare funding provided by Sverdlovsk Region Government as part of the obligatory medical insurance package might be reduced to 3.8bn RUR next year, head of the city council’s Healthcare Department Alexander Dornbush said at Yekaterinburg Duma meeting.

According to the Duma’s press service, Dornbush explained that the newly adopted unified gender/age coefficient meant the insurer’s reimbursement would come to 180 RUR per hospital visit, whereas in 2014, the figure came to 210 RUR.

Also, the allocated funding for Yekaterinburg clinics and hospitals was decreased from 4.2bnRUR down to 4.09bn RUR as early as at the start of the year. Next year, the figure will even drop down to 3.8bn RUR.

Dornbush said the healthcare sector was on the brink of collapsing, and some clinics might simply go bankrupt.
‘There are two options to choose from: cutting the doctors and nurses’ salaries or making people redundant,’ he said.

He also suggested adopting an adjusted funding coefficient for Yekaterinburg or coming up with a final (and limited) list of medical services that locals can get within their obligatory medical insurance package. Dmitri Sergin, speaking on behalf of an interparty group of deputies, said the situation was catastrophic.