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Turkmenistan
Health Care Conditions
Despite the nominally universal availability of free health
care, in the rural areas medical care often is deplorable by Western
standards. In both rural and urban areas, undertrained physicians
and staff, underequipped facilities, shortages of medicines and
supplies, and chronic sanitation problems contribute to the system's
inadequacy. For example, one study found that because 70 percent
of the obstetricians and gynecologists in Dashhowuz Province lacked
adequate surgical training, half of their patients died. A factor
in the high mortality rate is the provision of piped-in water
to only 15 percent of maternity clinics in the republic. Because
of the disruption of trade at the end of the Soviet period, pharmaceuticals
must be obtained with hard currency, making them even more scarce
than before. Of particular concern are shortages of oral rehydration
salts for children, syringes and needles, and vaccines, which
previously had been imported from Russia and Finland. According
to experts, current conditions of conventional medical care may
prompt many Turkmen to turn once again to "traditional" medicine.
Healers employing herbs and prayer are common, and in some rural
areas this type of treatment may be the only medical attention
that is available.
Data as of March 1996
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