Doctors will be offered amulets
Irina Vlasova, Gazeta No. 68 dated 15.04.2008
The XV Russian National Congress "Man and Medicine" opened yesterday at the Russian Academy of Civil Service under the President of the Russian Federation. The event, which will last four days, is one of the largest for Russian healthcare – it is no coincidence that representatives of the Ministry of Health and Social Development and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences are among the speakers and guests. The congress program includes plenums, master classes, scientific symposiums, clinical reviews, lectures for practicing physicians.
At first glance, everything is quite academic, but the forum participants every year note the increasing commercialization of the congress and express concerns about not only its future fate, but also the industry as a whole. At the end of last year's congress, experts expressed deep disappointment in the forum. First of all, the doctors who came from all over the country were upset that the bulk of the events were the actions of pharmaceutical companies openly promoting their own drugs. It's no secret that this year it was pharmaceutical companies that organized (and for the most part paid for) the arrival of practicing physicians at the congress.
If you do not take into account the cost of a ticket to Moscow and hotel accommodation, the prices for participation in the forum are about 4 thousand rubles: the organizational fee from each participant is 3.5 thousand rubles, the publication of his abstracts in the congress catalog is 450 rubles. In addition, pharmaceutical companies need to pay for the exhibition space they occupy (16.5-21.5 thousand rubles per square meter), logo placement (4.5-6 thousand rubles) and each workplace, if there is no separate stand (15-25 thousand rubles). As compensation for such considerable costs, pharmaceutical firms expect to receive from doctors a subsequent recommendation of their prescription drugs to patients.
As Salavat Suleymanov, chief clinical pharmacologist of the Ministry of Health of the Khabarovsk Territory, notes, he is skeptical of many reports. "It's a shame when you go to a symposium on a problem, but you get to promote the drug," Suleymanov explains. – Practical doctors see this perfectly well. And it's no secret that a number of companies ensure their stay in Moscow, treat them, entertain them. At the same time, out loud in front of outsiders, they do not oblige doctors to lobby for the interests of the company, but they are waiting for appropriate recommendations on drugs later."
As the chief clinical pharmacologist of the Stavropol Territory, Professor Vladimir Baturin, said, last year at the congress there was a continuous lobbying of the interests of commercial companies. "It was simply impossible not to notice that the recommendations of the opinion leaders (leaders of directions in medicine. – "Newspaper") sounded under the influence of pharmaceutical companies, – he says. – This not only leaves a serious imprint of financial interest on the organizers of the forums, but also greatly distorts medical practice. It would be good if the organizers would think about it." According to him, there is hope that this year there will still be more real scientific events at the congress. So far, Baturin says, this can only be judged by the declared program.
Experts note that every year there is less and less pharmacoeconomics at the symposium, and propagandists of poorly proven technologies such as dietary supplements, antioxidants, immunomodulators, angioprotectors, etc. are lined up under the slogans of "evidence-based medicine". Visitors of the congress are invited to purchase various amulets, zirconium bracelets and other occult accessories, of which more and more appear on the stands every year.
According to Yuri Krestinsky, Director General of the Institute of Public Health Problems, the fact that such items are presented next to medicines indicates a certain confusion of concepts. "As a result, the exhibition is formed not for professionals, but for ordinary people. These are the realities of our day. At the same time, it should be understood that there is not only discrediting of the exhibition. The trend reflects the mentality of the medical community as a whole," he notes. – This is the vast majority of the qualification of physicians, the quality of medicine. After all, there are already pedagogical universities in the Russian Federation that train doctors. I don't want to say that we don't have great doctors and scientists. But in general, medicine and healthcare are disqualified."
It turns out that the scientific medical forum turns from a means of communication of professionals into a kind of fair. Drug manufacturers and medical representatives (so-called medreps), who are given the opportunity to earn good money during the congress, undoubtedly benefit from this. Doctors even joke that the forum has turned into the name day of the heart of medreps. For example, on Wednesday they will offer the participants of the congress to play the game "Who wants to become a millionaire". Among others, the names of the drugs of the organizing company will be guessed.
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15.04.2008