Since the controversial law replacing benefits with financial compensation came into force in 2005, many cheap prescription drugs, or drugs intended for free distribution among war veterans and the disabled, have almost disappeared from drugstores.
"At a Duma Council session March 20, a decision concerning the [Health and Social Development] Ministry's top officials will be adopted," State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said, adding that lawmakers would approach the prime minister with a proposal to dismiss Mikhail Zurabov if his ministry failed to outline measures to rectify the shortage of drugs.
The statement echoes a similar warning Monday from the Kremlin-backed United Russia party, which dominates the State Duma, and President Vladimir Putin's remarks in late February that he was unhappy with the situation and that the problems could and should have been foreseen.
On Monday, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov dismissed Ramil Khabriyev, head of a health watchdog accountable to the ministry, a move that experts said was a warning to Zurabov, as Khabriyev did not deal with the program's financing.
The crisis of the program, which covers about 8.7 million people entitled to free drugs and is part of the much-touted national project to improve healthcare, has persisted for the last six months. The state's debt to pharmaceutical companies has reached 30 to about 40 billion rubles ($1.14-1.53 billion) according to various estimates, prompting the companies to cut supplies.
Zurabov said Monday that nearly 50% of those entitled to free drugs had withdrawn from the program last year, opting for financial compensation instead, but that before doing so, many had tried to get as many drugs as possible free-of-charge at the end of 2006.
Zurabov, unpopular for the rising cost of healthcare and as an architect of reform to abolish Soviet-era benefits, also promised to dismiss heads of regional public health regulating bodies over the drug scandal.
But Gryzlov said dismissals alone would not help address the drug shortage and suggested that Zurabov's ministry should be divided into two bodies - to oversee labor and welfare, and healthcare and medical equipment and pharmaceutical industry.
Zurabov was at the center of a corruption scandal in November 2006, when seven officials of the compulsory health insurance fund subordinate to his ministry, were arrested on suspicion of receiving bribes from pharmaceutical and other companies.
December saw more corruption probes against officials subordinate to the health ministry, including from the Federal Health and Social Development Agency, the Pension Fund and Social Insurance Fund.
