Russian doctors sell drugs to misusers to supplement salaries

Russia's health professionals are so poorly paid that some have resorted to selling prescription drugs to drug misusers to supplement their incomes, reports in the Russian media say. Twenty medical professionals were convicted in the last year in the region of Rostov, just one of Russia's 89 regions.

The respected Trud(“Labour”) daily newspaper gave a list of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists convicted of such offences. Natalya Arbuzova, a doctor of 20 years' experience, was one example the newspaper gave. She was caught …