The National Project “Health”’s Effects on the Status of Medical Personnel (A Case-Study of Medical Polyclinics in a Large City)

Abstract

The paper discusses changes in status attributes of employees at medical polyclinics under the National project “Health Care”. The research focuses on formal and informal strategies of different groups of medical personnel to maintain their statuses. Based on case-studies (interviews and observations) in two clinics in the city of Saratov and the content-analysis of official documents and mass media it provides a detailed analysis of medical employees’ economic practices that have been changed under the transformation of health care system.