Maternity and Child Protection

In Russia motherhood is protected by the slate. Special conditions, labour protection, material and moral support are provided to mothers to enable them to combine work and motherhood.

Protection of the health of mother and child is ensured by of a wide network of women’s consultation centres and maternity homes providing every woman with qualified medical observation during pregnancy and hospital aid during childbirth.

Medical aid to children and adolescents is provided by children's polyclinics, dispensaries, hospitals, sanatoriums and other public health institutions. Children and teenagers are kept under constant observation by dispensaries.

The health of the infant directly depends on the well-being of the mother. There are certain laws protecting pregnant women. It is prohibited to employ women on difficult and health-impairing jobs or in the night shift; to send pregnant women on business trips. They are transferred to easier work with the preservation of average earnings. Women are given paid maternity leave before and after childbirth. Baby-sitting (=nursing) mothers have the right to paid leave until the baby is 1.5 years old and the mother’s job is reserved for her 3 years after childbirth. When a child is ill the mother is given a sick-leave certificate to care for her child. Such payment is established until the child is 14 years.

Medical edication in the usa

After finishing his secondary studies the candidate for medical school must complete at least three years of higher, education in a cooiiege or university. The period of coiiege or universiti studies is caiied "the premedical phase". The students who are taking this course of studies preparing them for a medical school are called "premeds". A studens applies for admission to a medical school when he has completed premedical studies.

Academic achievement is the most important factor in the selection of students. In most medical schools candidates are reguied to pass the admission test. This is a nation multiple choice test. The test lasts about eight hourse over one day period and includes guestion in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and English. Then, specia admission committes have personal interviews with the candidate, in order to assess the candidate’s general gualities, his caracter, and abiliti to study medicine.

The competition is very difficult and only about half of the students who apply to a medical school are accepted and begin their medical education.

The basic medical sciences are presented largely during the first two years of medical studies. For instance, in the first year students study anatomy, biophysics, biochemistry, physiology, bacteriology, histology and other subjects. In the second year they study microbiology, pathology, physical diagnosis, pharmacology and laboratory diagnosis.

During the final two years the curriculum consists of clinical subjects. Medical students have practical work at teaching hospitals affiliated to the medical school. Students in small groups meet their teachers in the wards and in the outpatient departements where they participate in the treatment of patients.

At the end of four years all students receive the Degree of Doctor of Medicine, that is M. D. Then they must work for one year as interns. After the internship the young doctors must have a period of residency at the clinic, which is obligatory for all medical graduates. This period varies, depending on the specialty of the doctor. Generally, the period of residency is three or four years. After the residency the graduate is granted a licence to practice and he may work either in government servise or private practice.

Only a small part of students receive scholarships. The majority of the students have to work to pay for their studies. The gouverment- financed universities charge less while the tuition of the private colleges and universities is extremely high.