Onishchenko Declared the End of Epidemic Not Having Mentioned Any Figures

To be more precise he mentioned one - as to virus of flu A/H1N1 ("swine flu") 5613 cases of this disease are laboratory confirmed all in all in Russia. Really, and what of it? If there will be no cases of flu A/H1N1 at all, if not to do laboratory researches and people will die of "dreadful disease" ARVI or from "pneumonia" which appeared out of the nothing.

The matter is that diagnosis "flu" can be made quite convincingly without laboratory researches, on clinical picture - it is characteristic enough. Certainly, "flu" and not its subspecies especially A/H1N1. Therefore the Ministry of Health (since the time when it was simply the Ministry of Health) now allowed doctors to make such diagnosis as "flu", then forbade to do it - then all had "ARD" or "ARVI". Here you are statistics miracles - after all recommendation on making diagnosis can be given by local authorities, as a result, in one place they say flu, in other ARVI - the same disease, death rate is identical, statistics - different!

However, it happened there where there's statistics - for example, in Ukraine. There every day the Ministry of Health publishes standard "unknown data":

yesterday evening there were 1502345 ill;

44781 fell ill for a day (on a number of references into public health services establishments);

344 died including 18 for a day;

85904 were hospitalized including 2878 for a day;

233 are in resuscitation including 42 - on artificial lung ventilation.

There is similar apportion on each area, on Autonomous republic Crimea and on Kiev and Sevastopol.

While in Russia there's no such statistics on open access.

So what materials than Mr. Onishchenko used to declare that "in a number of the Russian regions where epidemic thresholds on flu and ARVI exceeded decrease of disease level began"?

"It gives us reserved optimism on the development of situation with flu", - he said. According to Onishchenko, less people fall ill in Moscow, Chita and the Zabaikalye Territory, the Magadan Region, the Chelyabinsk Region, the Perm Territory, on Sakhalin, in Yakutia, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Murmansk, Ulan-Ude and Ufa. The tendency to situation stabilisation on all types of flu is seen also in Bryansk, Buryatiya, Kaliningrad and Ulyanovsk.

What does it mean "less fall ill"? What does the word "less" mean? Nowadays people in our country is still quite educated, it is quite possible to give people figures, they will understand.

Or someone does not trust figures to people? Why then we, people, should trust estimations of Mr. Onishchenko which together with his department and all Ministry of Public Health admitted epidemic development?

Though the Ministry of Public Health very much willingly operates with one figure - inoculations against seasonal flu were made in Russia by more than 30 million people. Because it means money, green.

Why the Ministry of Public Health and Social Development (it's disgusting even to pronounce it) in respect of epidemic counteraction operates exclusively with data about inoculations and does not stammer at all about quarantine actions? Really, why? Only one thing was made from quarantine measures - children stayed at home longer. If that's all the Ministry of Public Health and Social Development is capable?

Strangely enough, yes. It's, probably, a limit of its possibilities.

Earlier the Ministry of Health consisted of the departments, services of the main experts in whose submission regional central boards were, not talking about different establishments of the Ministry of Health. The regional link submitted to central boards - during last years of well-ordered public health services there were Central regional hospitals which supervised all local structures - hospitals, polyclinics, "ambulance" stations, etc.

Now the Ministry of Public Health and Social Development, as a matter of fact, supervises almost nothing. "The Ministry of Health" is as a matter of fact such stepson of the "All-Russia security council" which is supervised by Mrs. Golikova. From 5 her deputies only one - V.Skvortsova is responsible for medicine, others - economists, so to say, "experts on cutting of the green".

Further, from two tens departments only four have relation to medicine, at that actually none has relation to the system of mass public health services. Look for yourself:

- Department of the analysis and the forecast of development of public health services and social-labor sphere

- Department of hi-tech medical help

- Department of organisation of medical help and public health services development

- Department of health protection and sanitary-and-epidemiologic well-being of a person

- Department of development of medical insurance

- Department of development of medical help to children and obstetric aid services

That is from six named - only three - "The Ministry of Health". Plus to it the main experts of the Ministry of Health now are not in the staff, that is they are honourable people, as a rule, supervising large establishments, having functional duties in the basic place of work. They supervise over nothing in the ministry, nobody is submitted to them and it's hardly probable that they prepare methodical recommendations - well, let's suppose, chief cardiologist E.I.Chazov - a great person, a legend - is present in the structure of the Ministry of Health obviously only for representation purposes. Or someone believes that in his 80 years he carries out big organizational and methodical work?.

Actually, there's no "Ministry of Health", directive control centre of public health services system in the Russian Federation. There is a structure distributing poor budgetary assignments. By the way, in the budget of 2010 these assignments are reduced 2,5 times - we have already won all diseases and life expectancy grows by leaps and bounds?.

Who supervises then directly over national public health services? Nobody! It's being supervised by itself somehow, at a local level. Basically by method of writing of pieces of paper. But epidemics - especially dangerous - are not prevented by direction of budgetary streams!

If tomorrow something more serious, not "swine flu" will happen - the country will die out as in the Middle Ages. Systems preventing development of dangerous infections does not exist any more. Moreover, "Ministry of Health" will learn about it from TV. In the structure of the "Ministry of Public Health and Social Development" there is no structure which is engaged in medical statistics at a level of department, there's only department of statistical account, reporting and quality control within the Department of organisation of medical help and public health services. Perhaps it is enough? Perhaps, but why there is no statistics on open access? Most likely, the answer is one - nobody is engaged in it...

Because in our remarkable country - just think it over - in general there is no Ministry of Health. There is "stepson at Security Council".

Аnatoly Baranov

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