State policy of development of resort business in Russia: legal and organizational aspects, including those in an emergency

Abstract

To analyze the normative and regulatory support of the state policy of development of health resort business in Russia and organizational and methodological aspects of its implementation, including those in emergency and coronavirus pandemic. The following current methods of community hygienic and medical-organizational research were applied: analytical, statistical, best practice study, monographic, etc. Data from state and departmental official sources, statistical books, scientific publications, and other sources were studied. The main normative, regulatory, organizational and methodological aspects of the strategy implementation, developed in accordance with the order of the Government of the Russian Federation «On approval of the development strategy of the health-resort complex of the Russian Federation» dated 26.11.18 №2581-p were analyzed. Some discrepancies in the state and departmental statistics of health-resort organizations were found. The nomenclature of the health-resort area was reviewed, and the used term «health-resort treatment» was criticized, which does not correspond to the parts of this type of daily practice medical care, unlike the concepts «health-resort care» or «health-resort business». The article presents the author's vision of the issue of normative and organizational support of health-resort organizations in an emergency such as COVID-19 pandemic since 2020. It is shown that the national and local experience of coronavirus infection control contributed to the development of a considerable number of federal regulatory documents in a short time frame. The publication describes an analysis and systematic review of the most important documents, including those related to the spa resorts. Addressing the demanding challenges of further development of the country's health-resort complex largely relies on the state of its facilities and resources. However, its objective analysis is hindered by the identified significant discrepancies in the state and departmental statistic data concerning the number of functioning health-resort organizations and its change over time. As opposed to the concept of «health-resort treatment», the term «health-resort care» most accurately describes its complexity.