68% of Russian doctors are pessimistic about the possibility of reforming the pay system in the healthcare industry, according to a survey conducted by the RNC Pharma analyst company and the platform for doctors Medvestnik. 59% of them “do not believe the situation can change at all” and another 9% think that “those who wanted a decent salary left the state healthcare a long time ago.”

Most Russian doctors prefer to actually get vaccinated against COVID-19 and not buy a fake certificate, according to a survey by the RNC Pharma analyst company and the Doktor Na Rabote (Doctor at Work) social media service for doctors. Around 69% of the study participants were already vaccinated at the time of the survey, and another 15% were ready to get the vaccine at the earliest opportunity. About 10% had medical reasons preventing them from getting vaccinated and did not need a fake card.

Out of 1,119 health workers (doctors, nurses, laboratory assistants, etc.) who took part in the survey conducted by the RNC Pharma analyst company and the platform for doctors Medvestnik, only 11%, or 129 people, refuse to get vaccinated. Only 7% of those has objective reasons, i.e. medical contraindications, another 20% had a high antibody titer after a previous infection, which might allow them to postpone vaccination, but not to avoid it forever.

Out of 1,119 health workers (doctors, nurses, laboratory assistants, etc.) who took part in the survey conducted by the RNC Pharma analyst company and the platform for doctors Medvestnik, 66% have already been vaccinated from COVID-19 (Fig. 1). Another 12% have not yet had time to get vaccinated, but are willing to do it in the near future.

Between Q1 and Q2 2021, the sales of veterinary drugs in the Russian retail market amounted to 11 billion rubles (retail prices, VAT included), up only 3.8% in monetary terms (rubles) from 2020, which is much lower than the inflation rate of 8.3%. In physical terms, the market volume amounted to 93 million minimum dosage units (MDU), with the growth rates of +3.1%.

Between January and May 2021, Russian manufacturers produced 239.1 billion rubles worth of pharmaceutical drugs (manufacturer’s prices, VAT included), up 26% from the same period last year in monetary terms (rubles). The growth rate in physical terms (packages), however, is still negative, -9.2%, with the production volume of 1.7 billion packages. Despite the serious drop in packages, the growth rate in MDUs (minimum dosage units) is much better: -1.7%, 32.6 billion MDUs produced. Apart from the falling demand, the standard package has changed.

At least 70% of doctors often have to deal with aggressive patients pressuring them in order to obtain money from the healthcare facility, according to a survey conducted by the RNC Pharma analyst company and the platform for doctors Medvestnik. 46% of them encounter such patients from time to time, while 24% say that it occurs “regularly.”

Between January and May 2021, the sales of veterinary drugs in the Russian retail market amounted to 9.3 billion rubles (retail prices, VAT included), down 6.1% from January–May 2020. Despite the high inflation rates and the prices up 11.7%, the growth rate of the sales volume in physical terms (minimum dosage units, MDU) was +7.4%. The sales volume of veterinary drugs amounted to 80.3 million MDUs.

The Laspeyres price index for the import of APIs to Russia in 2020 reached an all-time high of 23.9%. Over the past 10 years, a more or less comparable index was witnessed back in 2015 (19.9%), when the increase in prices was caused by the devaluation of the Russian ruble, with the US dollar increasing by almost 60% and the euro by about 33% against the ruble.

Between January and March 2021, the total volume of the online sales or reservation of pharmacy products (pharmaceutical drugs and parapharmaceuticals) in Russia amounted to 46.2 million rubles (end-user prices, VAT included), 24% up from the first quarter of 2020, which is, considering the drop in the total volume of the Russian pharmaceutical and parapharmaceutical market, is a real success. However, it should be noted that it was parapharmaceuticals that contributed the most. The growth rate of the online sales and reservation of pharmaceutical drugs was +13.4%, and while this is a lot, it is still 6.7% down from 2020. Besides, the laws prohibiting the online sale of Rx drugs is an objective obstacle.