Russia (bbabo.net), - Half of Omsk residents spend up to twenty percent of their salary on visits to doctors and medicines. And the profits of private clinics are growing at an unprecedented pace and are already comparable to city spending on the construction of roads, schools, and housing. The All-Russian People's Front became interested in the problem of pricing.
The Head Hunter research service conducted a survey among Omsk residents - users of the job search site. And I found out that against the background of the pandemic and restrictive measures, the incomes of almost half of the respondents decreased. To the greatest extent, this affected people over 45 years old, as well as marketers, scientists, representatives of the educational sector, the restaurant and hotel business, transport, and sports. At the same time, Omsk residents say that the cost of medical services has increased significantly.
According to the source, half of the respondents spend up to ten percent of their salary on medicines, another fourteen percent spend up to 25 percent, and six percent of Omsk residents spend even more on pills and potions. Approximately the same amount of funds from citizens goes to medical care.
Meanwhile, according to the Federal Tax Service of the Omsk region, the income of Omsk private clinics for the nine months of last year amounted to almost seven billion rubles. Three grid companies' profits increased by 2.5 times and are already comparable in volume to city expenses for the implementation of state national projects.
At the same time, queues line up at the cash desks of commercial medical institutions from the very morning. State polyclinics cannot cope with the sharply increased workload, patients stand on the street for coupons. Therefore, the sick do not have much choice, and those who have such an opportunity have to fork out.
- I have already paid 1650 rubles for the initial and repeated visits to the therapist, plus 750 for tests and a thousand for ultrasound. The doctor prescribed medicines and vitamins for almost one and a half thousand rubles and appointed a new appointment. So the matter will not be limited to these expenses, - the patient of the central private medical center Arina Muraleva shared her experience with the correspondent.
However, the largest source of income for commercial clinics is PCR tests, which are now handed over en masse. The procedure is standard, but its cost in different medical institutions can vary significantly. In Omsk, for example, a three-fold price spread was recorded, and in some cities - five and six times.
ONF experts have already become interested in strange pricing.
In Omsk, the cost of the test ranges from seven hundred to two thousand rubles. Moreover, not only private, but also public clinics sin by price gouging. At the same time, there is no guarantee that the price will not rise again. There is something to think about for the anti-monopolists and the authorities, the activists of the All-Russian Popular Front are sure.
- We see that due to the spread of the Omicron strain, the incidence is increasing dramatically. This may lead to an increase in demand for testing, which means attempts to raise prices, - says Mikhail Kuznetsov, head of the executive committee of the ONF.
Today in Omsk, the test can be done in twenty clinics. The average price in the city exceeds 1,200 rubles. A free procedure is provided for citizens with pronounced symptoms of coronavirus or acute respiratory infections. For those who have a medical exemption from vaccination due to allergies and other indications, spending on testing, without which even shopping centers are not allowed to go shopping and the results of which are valid for only two days, cost a pretty penny.
By the way
According to the ONF, only 25 percent of Omsk residents surveyed received free medicines for outpatient treatment of COVID-19.
The corresponding diagnosis was registered in the medical organization only for every fourth outpatient. 84 percent of respondents admitted that they did not apply for medical assistance through hotlines. Those who nevertheless did it had to spend from several minutes to several hours waiting for the operator's response.
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