OREANDA-NEWS Paramedics and midwives will be able to perform the duties of doctors in Russia from September 1, This will be possible if there are not enough specialists or they will be temporarily absent from the workplace, Tamara Frolova, a member of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection, said, as quoted by TASS.

"Until now, their [paramedics and midwives'] powers have been limited, but the new order legalizes the practice of delegating medical functions in the absence of specialists with higher education or a shortage of them," the parliamentarian said.

She clarified that, according to the order of the Ministry of Health, which is coming into force, this procedure for providing medical care will be applied only in the provision of primary health care and emergency medical care. The department's document also expanded the list of units in which the functions of a doctor can be assigned to a paramedic — these are paramedic stations, outpatient clinics and polyclinics.