Analysis: how war-era budgets are squeezing Russian healthcare, according to a Radio Svoboda broadcast

This is a written analysis of an audio programme. Figures below are as cited in the broadcast; Sardaana has not independently verified each of them.

On 5 November 2026 Radio Svoboda’s programme “Face to the Event” (Лицом к событию) aired an episode titled “A special operation to destroy medicine”. Guests were anaesthesiologist-intensivist Alexander Polupan and politician and trade-union activist Mikhail Lobanov.

The programme’s main argument

The programme argues that problems dating from the 2010 “optimisation” reform (closing small hospitals, replacing some with feldsher-midwife posts, raising pay partly through heavier workloads) are now being made worse by war spending and budget deficits.

Figures cited in the broadcast

• State Duma health committee chair Alexei Kurinny was quoted as saying public health spending stays around 3.5–3.7% of GDP, versus 8–10% in developed countries, and that Russia lags Europe by about 40% in per-capita funding at purchasing-power parity.
• Citing The Moscow Times, the programme said the compulsory medical insurance fund (OMS) faces a deficit of about 168 billion roubles next year under the government’s draft.
• Citing the explanatory note to the draft budget, it said federal health spending in 2027 is planned to fall by 3%, with the federal cancer project cut sharply.
• A report described a doctor at a state hospital near Moscow who said she was dismissed in October after refusing to raise outpatient hours from 33 to 39 a week without extra pay; the regional health ministry said workload norms comply with the law. The doctor is challenging the dismissal in court.
• Citing The Insider and BBC Russian, the programme said Sechenov University fell 198 state-funded and 205 fee-paying places short in residency admissions this year, after the law on mandatory work placements for medical graduates. Health Minister Mikhail Murashko has said the number of doctors is growing.

What the guests said (views)

• Polupan, who said he has not been in Russia for several years and relies on colleagues’ accounts, said healthcare was underfunded before the war but the gap has widened, especially in the regions, and that young doctors are driven away mainly by poor working conditions and lack of professional development rather than pay supplements.
• Lobanov said collective action by medical workers had won concessions in the 2010s and during COVID, but that since 2022 repression has made this far riskier. He said many medics emigrated over fear of mobilisation and that the authorities do not plan long-term.

Takeaway

The broadcast’s conclusion is that underfunding is being offset by heavier workloads and compulsion, which, in the guests’ view, will deepen staff shortages in the regions in the coming years. Officials’ position, as quoted, is that workload rules are followed and doctor numbers are rising.