A number of Yekaterinburg’s private clinics are uniting to fight for their right to become a part of the obligatory medical insurance system, General Director of Babur Medical Center Igor Ivanenko says.

‘We decided to work together on the new scheme of rendering medical services. Private clinics (dealing in a variety of services) are to cooperate with one another, which means a patient will be entitled to a whole range of medical services, including primary health care, expert and hi-tech medical care, and transportation services,’ he explains.

Igor Ivanenko claims the idea of a united system of private clinics has no counterparts in Russia at the moment.

‘In some parts of Russia, private clinics were made a part of the obligatory medical insurance system, but it is still unclear what principle and what criteria were used for their selection. I feel our project is a very important and timely thing, especially after President Dmitriy Medvedev complained about the lack of good quality medical care in Russia due to absence of competition. One of the reasons why competition is missing in this field is the fact that the obligatory medical insurance system refused to accept private medical establishments, which was, in fact, illegal,’ he notes.

The first outcomes of the project will probably be felt in August or September 2008.