President Vladimir Putin’s nearly two-year-long war against Ukraine is causing a severe shortage in the number of health care professionals across Russia.
The Russian Ministry of Health reported in November that the medical sector lacked about 26,500 doctors and 58,200 nursing staff. British officials said Sunday there is a “significant” shortage of doctors in 22 regions across Russia and a “severe” shortage in another seven.
Up to 3,000 medical professionals in Russia have been mobilized to support the war effort, U.K. intelligence analysts said.
The financial burden of supporting Russia‘s war in Ukraine is negatively impacting a range of civilian career fields that serve the population.
Although they were warned not to leave the country after the military mobilization in September 2022, up to 2% of Russian doctors and other medical professionals fled to avoid the draft, British military officials said.
“There are no signs that the trend of reducing numbers of healthcare professionals in Russia will change during 2024,” British officials said on social media in their latest assessment of the battlefield conditions in Ukraine.
In the past 15 months, the number of doctors in Russia declined by 7,500, with many blaming low pay and the long hours.
A Russian legislative committee said economically hard-hit regions of the country will find it particularly hard to finance medical salaries in 2024, U.K. officials said.