The Ministry of Health is ready to discuss a delay in the requirements for the bed of oncocenters

The Ministry of Health is ready to discuss the possibility of delaying the entry into force of new requirements for medical organizations involved in the treatment of cancer. We are talking about already approved rules obliging specialized clinics to have a strictly defined number of beds for patients. Representatives of the medical services market turned to the Ministry of Health, in order to revise these requirements, warning that otherwise many private clinics may be on the verge of closing.

The new procedure for oncological assistance to the adult population was adopted by the Ministry of Health in 2021 and began to enter into force in stages from January 1, 2022. In it, among other things, the standards of equipping the cancer dispensary and « structural units of medical organizations involved in the provision of oncological assistance » are tightened. Thus, the antitumor therapy department should have from 20 to 50 beds (such a requirement did not exist before). In the radio therapy department, it is supposed to have at least five beds per installation. The surgical department should have from 25 to 50 beds, it can be organized in medical organization, where there are at least 70 oncological profile beds.

Since 2026, according to the order, only medical institutions that meet these requirements will be able to provide medical assistance.

Back in 2021, at the stage of approval, the document caused criticism of a number of experts, including those included in the National Association of Administration in the field of healthcare (NAUZ; unites more than 500 clinics and their leaders from all over the country). As a result of the entry into force of the Order of the Ministry of Health in hospitals of small cities or in small private clinics, where there are no sufficient number of beds, it will be prohibited, they warned.

At the end of April 2025, the NAUZ repeatedly sent a letter to the Ministry of Health, in request to revise the requirements for the bed of medical organizations. Experts once again warned that otherwise the overwhelming number of existing non -state clinics of this profile risk closing. The letter notes that the order was developed before the start of a special military operation, the introduction of sanctions against Russia, that is, « in completely different socio-economic conditions. » “A significant number of non -governmental medical organizations purchased expensive medical equipment used in the provision of oncological assistance until 2022,” said Naus. “The service life of such equipment is mainly ten years. In case of termination of oncological assistance by non -state organizations, the equipment will be written off, that is, in fact, it is lost. ”

In the Ministry of Health, in response to a request from the NAUZ, it was reported (“Kommersant” got acquainted with the text) that they were ready to consider the possibility of deferred the entry into force of 2026 requirements for the bed of cancer centers that provide medical care on radiology, oncology and radio therapy, chemotherapy.

The issue will be considered when actualizing the departmental order No. 116n, which approved the procedure for the provision of medical care to the adult population in oncological diseases. There is no dates of the planned actualization of the order in the answer.

According to the Ministry of Health, in 2023, oncology was diagnosed in about 675 thousand people. In September 2024, the head of the Ministry of Health, Mikhail Murashko, reported that the one -onic mortality of patients with cancer (the number of patients dying over the year after diagnosis) over the past five years decreased by 18%, while more than 8% of patients with malignant neoplasms, consisting of five years or more.

The head of the NAUZ Muslim Muslimov believes that the order directly affects the “service part”, that is, on the availability of oncological assistance to the population. In the case of a delay in its entry into force, part of citizens who are accustomed to certain medical organizations and doctors working there will be able to “safely improve their health,” he said. Nikolai Dronov, chairman of the Coordinating Council of Movement Against Cancer, on the contrary, calls the requirements of the order fair. He is sure that in the medical institution participating in the oncological assistance system there should be at least 120 beds. “It makes no sense to reduce these requirements. For what? In order to let on more private clinics into the oncological assistance system? But most of them are no different from beer stalls, and normal private clinics work and withstand these requirements, ”says Mr. Dronov.

Natalia Kostarova