[The specificity of moral aspects of activity of medical workers in Health Care of Russia]

The transformation of values and dissemination of consumerism ideology, associated with active implementation of market mechanisms of functioning in the Russian health care system, significantly affected processes of implementing moral aspects of activities of medical workers. The transition of physician and patient to buying and selling relationships initiated the situation when the life and health maintenance is considered not as an ultimate purpose of medical profession, but as a service supplied for particular fee. Moreover, quality of medical care supplied is considered as directly proportional to its cost. This fact results, from one hand, in corruption in health care system initiated by patients themselves because unofficial fee is significantly lower than the established one. From the other hand, it results in the fact that service supplied to patient for free in state polyclinics is provided untimely and not always is has needed quality due to lacking of necessary resources. As a result, the moral purpose of medical profession becomes minor, yielding to commercial relationships. However, these occurrences do not disprove the fact that the patient, in case of visiting physician, remains completely dependent on one's professionalism and responsibility, despite the abundance of private medical institutions and the formal freedom of choosing type of medical service and medical specialist providing it. The high moral culture was and continue to be an obligatory characteristic of successfulness and professionalism of physician. In the new economic conditions, it can become a competitive advantage, since every patient wishes to see in physician not only competent specialist, but also a person capable to empathize and responsibly treat with responsibility another life that was trusted to him.