Term Paper on "Healthcare and Medicine in the Former Soviet"

Term Paper 10 pages (2981 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Healthcare and Medicine in the Former Soviet Union, From the Times of the Cold War Until Now Abstract

The health and medicinal facilities have been a cause for concern for the Soviet Union from the times of cold war. The Marxism theories have led to the adoption of bureaucracy and rigidly defined rules and objectives which are difficult to attain when the administration, funding, production and the other health care tasks are handled centrally. Even when the intentions were clear about improving the health standards in the country, the quality of the services provided suffered. The doctors and health care personnel increased in number but their education and training were not up to the mark leading to severe health related problems. The ecological problems did not assist the health issues and the political and economic setbacks suffered by the country led to worsening of the entire situation.

Objectives

The objective is to discern whether the Marxism rule was able to resolve the health care problems better or whether the freedom or decentralization methods given under free market economy eliminated the deep rooted health problems in the country. The health care problems never entirely finished from the country and remained in the major parts of their history and continue to exist till today.

Method

In order to answer these questions, the researcher did a meta-analysis of recent publications. The researcher reviewed articles from several articles published in journals and magazines (Public Administration Review, American Journal of Public Health, European Observatory on Health Care Systems Series, Health Services Research) and analyzed information published in these sources to determine the status of healthcare and medicine in the Former Soviet Union, from the times of the cold war until now.

Results

The outcome of the research was that neither the free market economy nor the centrally planned economy can achieve the health care goals alone and efficiently. Even though free market economy faced a lot less problems in dealing with health care than a centrally planned economy, the goals of providing free and universal health care is still hard to achieve. Standardized services have been found lacking in both the economies and there is an imbalance in the treatment provided to the high-ranking people compared with lowly, poor and common people.

Conclusions

It has been a difficult and slow transition for the Russian economy from the inflexible centrally planned economy to the more receptive free market economy. However, the health care concerns have not been fully dealt with. It is up to the policy makers who are responsible for drawing up the health reforms to learn from experience and to keep all the relative factors in mind before aiming for something unrealistic. As can be seen from the history of Soviet Union that even though, the economy achieved its target of enlarging the health care system and producing many doctors, the quality level was dropped to a very low level to a point where it was equal to the health care system being non-existent. In future, the policy makers and the helpers need to find out the most efficient way of utilizing resources so that the maximum return can be achieved from the investment. The government has got to play its part by bridging the imbalance of wealth among its citizens and improving the socioeconomic and ecological conditions so that fair treatment is accorded to every one and the health care does not worsen because of external factors.

Introduction

Restructuring and transforming a deteriorating health care system is not an easy task, as is becoming clear in the United States. However, the problems faced in reorganizing the system by various countries including the U.S. appear quite insignificant in front of the health care issues Russia and the other independent former Soviet Union states were confronted with. An extraordinary emphasis on centralization in the former Soviet Union (FSU) for seventy years destroyed any hope of the economy, specifically, the health care system of ever functioning efficiently. Also, it posed problems in the movement towards a free market economy that was not quite in favor of centralization. Now, the pressing concern of the Soviet Union is to uplift its health care system from further ruin and modify it according to current health standards (Mikesell and Mullins, 2001).

The question that arises is how the health care system can be transformed, keeping in mind the present requirement of medical services by people and the development that the almost-collapsed health care system demands. Another concern that is raised is how the move towards market economy will affect the health care system and whether it will lead to further destruction. These types of concerns demand notice (Barr and Mark, 1996).

Background of the healthcare system in former Soviet Union

The period of mayhem following the Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917 was also highlighted by the bringing in of Soviet's "socialized medicine." The country had faced great economic and military challenges and survival was difficult to envision. To crown it all, the poverty-stricken and half-starved people were also facing health problems in the shape of spells of plagues that kept occurring. The administration then had to firstly stem the attacks of epidemics in the country before launching on any other program (Barr and Mark, 1996).

Two time periods can be made out in the ensuing years of the Soviet's health care history. One time period of the 1920s was characterized by Marxist theories that made health care problems appear as an outcome of following capitalism and stated that communalism will bring an end to health woes in the country through rigid order. These perceptions, however, had the effect of stifling modern medical researches and gave birth to a whole lot of untrained doctors (Barr and Mark, 1996).

The closing stages of the decade saw Stalin's policies of collectivizing agriculture and to bring industrialization in the Soviet Union under a forcible plan. This eliminated the growth of Marxism or anti-capitalists ideas. The health care system underwent a change as it became more systematic with the purpose of it being to develop the working capability of the labor force. The importance of health care in the country was emphasized and it was declared that every citizen had the right to claim it. The operation and functioning of this system was given under the control of the government while all the health care employees were also hired by the state. Its control lay mainly in the centre and the system was homogeneous and unvarying with defined rules and objectives. Patients were given free medical treatment and other facilities which the state endured out of the corporate tax and its budget while the private associations of doctors were stopped from functioning (Barr and Mark, 1996).

Doctors were asked to take training to improve their skills while the government took measures to increase the capacity of clinics and hospitals by making space and providing more hospital beds. This sudden and hasty attempt to meet the overwhelming medical needs and to build the collapsed health care system also meant a certain decline in quality of the health care staff and the facilities provided. The unlimited demands for the goods and services coupled with the availability of limited resources and provisions of products led to the problem of scarcity. Moreover, the health care system developed in such a way so as to cater to only the high-ranking people or individuals who belonged from a certain class. It diverted its attention away from the common men who were only offered low quality and limited medical facilities (Barr and Mark, 1996).

The Brezhnev era which lasted from 1964 to the beginning of 1980s did not experience developments in the health care systems of the country but instead was forced to tackle with deep rooted administrative problems. Mikhail Gorbachev, in 1985 let the people know about the major health care problems. From the view point of Evgenii I. Chazov who was Gorbachev's first health minister, the underlying cause for the collapse of the health care system was a lack of finance and resources that were needed for the necessary and urgent improvement of such an important sector in the country. In the ensuing years, Soviet Union actually cut down the resources going from its gross national product to health and services sector and it was the only country to do so at that time (Barr and Mark, 1996).

The quality of the health services provided were dreadful, considering the fact that Soviet Union was a host to the largest number of doctors and hospital beds in any country. Criminal practices had crept in while doctors who graduated had usually cheated or bribed their way to get their degree and were often at a loss at performing the most simplest of tasks. Dishonest and fraudulent measures seeped anything of quality that was left in the health care system. Some of the experienced health care providers were drivers to charge high fees from their patients which they were thought to be supplied… READ MORE

How to Reference "Healthcare and Medicine in the Former Soviet" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Sources of Health Information Term Paper

Health Information Credibility

HEALTH INFORMATION RESOURCE CRITERIA

Health information resources are plentiful, particularly since the advent of the Internet. Reputable organizations, academic institutions, and accredited medical professionals maintain public websites,… read more

Term Paper 5 pages (1655 words) Sources: 5 Style: APA Topic: Healthcare / Health / Obamacare

---

Saudi Arabia Surveillance Intro the Knowledge Term Paper

Saudi Arabia Surveillance Intro

The Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Ministry of Health Physicians Toward Surveillance System in Saudi Arabia

Surveillance is the ongoing systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of… read more

Term Paper 3 pages (1123 words) Sources: 15 Topic: Healthcare / Health / Obamacare

---

Health Policy and Bioethics Term Paper

Health Policy and Bioethics

The United States was in an uproar in the late twentieth century over whether medical care was or ought to be a business. The prestigious New… read more

Term Paper 4 pages (1481 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Management / Organizations

---

Personal Nursing Philosophy Essay

Nursing - Nursing Philosophy

NURSING PHILOSOPHY and PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Without a doubt, the first extraordinarily important new era of medicine began shortly after the close of the American Civil War,… read more

Essay 4 pages (1167 words) Sources: 4 Style: APA Topic: Nursing / Doctor / Physician

---

Tylenol Cyanide Case Study

Tylenol Case Analysis: Johnson and Johnson

In the contemporary world, taking responsibility and immediate action in the face of a huge crisis is a requirement for any U.S. corporation if… read more

Case Study 4 pages (1160 words) Sources: 4 Topic: Journalism / Media / PR / News

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>