Before the fall of the USSR, the medical system in Moscow was completely controlled by the state. The price calculation problem rendered the managers of hospitals and the medical industry as a whole, unable to determine how many beds, how many doctors and how many medical supplies were necessary to treat the patients. This lead to all sorts of perverse results. In 1987, minister of health Yevgeny Chazov found that 40% of newly graduated doctors couldn't read a cardiogram. Newborns would receive 200-400 shots in their first year of life. Patients were subjected to seemingly endless lists before they could receive treatment. And dying patients were thrown into the cold, cold street, to ensure that their deaths wouldn't adversely affect the statistics of the hospital. Read more →