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In 1990, there
were 28 percent fewer hospitals built and 15 percent fewer polyclinics than in 1989, even
with an estimated shortage of 160,000 pediatric and 30,000 maternity beds. An evaluation
of the progress made in 1991 of meeting the health goals of the eleventh and twelfth
health plans indicated that 24 percent of polyclinics and hospitals did not have running
water; 39 percent did not have toilets, and half lacked bathing facilities; 31 percent did
not have central heating; 29 percent of polyclinics and 49 percent of hospitals lacked hot
water. These conditions were exacerbated in small rural areas, affecting up to 80 percent
of local facilities. In government polls, more than half the population expressed
dissatisfaction with the inadequacies of the Soviet health care system, particularly with
poorly trained medical staff, technological and pharmaceutical shortages, and the lack of
basic sanitation and hygienic conditions (Brui, 1991). |