Volgograd Region lacks doctors, say parents of many children

On October 22, in the course of the roundtable held on the topics of maternity and childhood, members of the large families of the Volgograd Region stated a significant shortage of professionals in the regional health care facilities.

The roundtable was organized by the public reception office of the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the initiative of the public committee "Parents of Large Families" of the Volgograd Region; Elena Samoshina, one of the activists, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the committee was set up at the suggestion of the head of Volgograd Irina Guseva.

The round table held a broad discussion of the issues raised by parents during the recent hunger strike about the deficit of doctors-specialists in polyclinics.

In his turn, Vladimir Shkarin, the head of the regional public health agency, asserted that the staffing of children's clinics with medical specialists exceeds 80 percent.

Nikolai Shamaev, one of the recent hunger-strikers, has treated protesters, has treated the figures announced by Shkarin as "amazing", since, according to Shamaev, prior to get to a doctor-specialist, "one has to stay on the waiting list for months."

Elena Samoshina told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the issues of health, education and increase of children benefits will be discussed with the local ministers at the repeated meeting in a month.