Page 15 - RusRPTJun20

While private hospitals in many European countries have been enlisted to treat Covid-19 patients, in Russia they’re playing a limited role as private players lack the facilities necessary to treat the coronavirus, and low-key support from the government makes reprofiling financially pointless.
“Private clinics’ input is real, but it should not be overestimated,” said Vasiliy Vlassov, an epidemiologist at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics. “Most are cherry picking as they don’t want to provide all necessary care. Private clinics want to participate, but only a small number can, because they are not orientated to such resource-intensive treatments.” While private players have played an extensive role in Russia’s testing regime, just three fully private healthcare providers — Medsi, K-31 and Mother and Child — have converted hospitals in Moscow to accept Covid-19 patients. In total, they have added around 825 beds, official data shows. More than half of those are occupied by paying customers.
Factoring in extra beds converted at RZD Medicine hospitals — a quasi-market player providing healthcare for the staff of state-owned Russian Railways but also offering private corporate healthcare — around 5% of Moscow’s 30,000 Covid-19 beds have been requisitioned from outside the nationalized healthcare system.
However, in the context of the coronavirus, the system appears to have fallen short. The tariff which has been set for city hospitals — 200,000 rubles ($2,720) for a course of Covid-19 treatment — appears counterproductively low. Moreover, there are no additional funds being provided for the costly task of actually reprofiling a hospital, moving patients, creating clean and dirty zones and, in some cases, reorienting building ventilation.
“The tariff is very unprofitable for us,” Yelena Brusilova, President of Medsi, which has converted its flagship hospital at Otradnoye in north Moscow, told Business FM. “Of course, we understand this is a loss for us.”
2.5 ​ ​Duma passes postal vote law to expedite referendum on constitutional changes
Russian lawmakers have passed a bill to allow Russians to vote by mail or online for President Vladimir Putin’s constitutional amendments that would allow him to stay in power through 2036.
Putin caught observers out in January by agreeing to a stage-managed “spontaneous” suggestion that the two term limit on a president’s term in office be waived in his case.
The Russian constitution limits a president to two terms in office. Putin has already dodged the limit once by standing down in 2008 and allowing Dmitry Medvedev to take over as president for one term, with Putin taking up the role of Prime Minister for four years. Having reset the clock Putin returned as president in 2012 for another two terms. His current term in office runs to 2024, but now he can stay until 2036.
Analysts are divided on if Putin will actually make use of the extension. But the change negates one of Putin’s main political problems during his current term; as 2024 approaches a struggle for succession would have broken out amongst the elites to manoeuvre their preferred candidate into place making Putin increasingly a lame duck in his last years in office. Now that he can stay on after 2024 he will retain his full power until the end of that period.
The constitution referendum is the keystone in this plan and was slated to happen in on April 22. However, the Kremlin reluctantly delayed the vote after
15​ RUSSIA Country Report​ June 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com