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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Turkmenistan
Index
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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