February 2003

As Patients We Trust You, As Clients We Would Like To Know

Medicine is a mysterious realm. No patient can adequately judge upon a better treatment, although many try. Rumors circulate in the public, of course, adding credits to this or that doctor or professor, and with the same ease the same persons lose their credits in the eyes of concrete patients remaining uncured (at best) owing to concrete, objective or subjective, reasons.

What is underway now is no less mysterious, as we are on the threshold of joining medicine with economy. The system of paid medical services functioning already for a number of years may be characterized as chaotic: bearable (or unbearable) tariffs frighten the nervous, the poorest or the most naive, while those better adapted still know how much and whom to pay. Experienced patients are well acquainted with cheaper modifications and synonyms in the sea of drug denominations. The same refers to a healthier category, whereas the richest are not to be encountered in ordinary policlinics and hospitals: they go abroad for treatment despite prices. Why, it is a matter of prestige for the "new"! The fate of gravely ill or injured people is, of course, awful both morally and financially as they are fully dependent on the personnel and their sufferings give them no choice ... Continued...

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“Of course, I will be back with my friends and flowers” The more time elapses, the better we realize whom we have lost… Vladimir Vysotsky is a poet, performer of his songs, theatre and cinema actor. At the beginning of the third millennium he started to be spoken of as one of the most talented people of the 20th century… In memory of the 65th birthday anniversary of Vladimir Vysotsky, the Russian guild of actors proposed to dedicate the year 2003 to his name. A monument has been erected in memory of the national actor, although he did not believe in it when he was alive, since when alive, no one recognized Vladimir Vysotsky officially. He left a great heritage - as his wife, French actress, Marina Vladi says – more than 900 songs. They were heard almost in every house, in all the extensive area of the former Soviet Union from the hot Samarkand to the cold Murmansk. Continued...

Tourism Can Contribute to the Development of National Economy It is widely recognized that tourism is an important factor that can contribute to the development of market-oriented economy. It can be stated that tourism is directly linked with the cultural, economic and intellectual potential of a country and the current statistical data show that tourism is defined as one of the most profitable and rapidly developing industries in the world. It is expected that in the early 21st century the number of tourists will increase dramatically and consequently the revenues from tourism will increase considerably. Continued...