“According to data from the International Narcotics Control Board, since 1992 Russia has markedly decreased the legal consumption of opioids,” write Dr Usenko, who is affiliated with the Eastern and Central Europe Palliative Care Task Force.
Describing the situation in Russia concerning the decrease in opioid consumption as “very complex”, she writes: “according to the Russian Ministry of Health … inadequate pain management of Russian patients results from healthcare professionals’ lack of knowledge of pain treatment,” however, physicians say that the regulations governing opioids availability are “burdensome, inadequate and lead to conflict with the Federal Service for Drug Control.”
Dr Usenko highlights the affects of the inability to provide adequate pain control, mentioning the case of Dr Alevtina Khorinyak, the Russian doctor prosecuted for helping a patient in pain, as well as a number of cases where patients have been killed out of compassion because their families could not bear to see them suffer in uncontrolled pain.
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