[Demand for medical care by single rural pensioners]

It is noted that the frequency of visits to health institutions among lonely elderly people residing in rural areas depends on the distance to the hospital, regularity of communication, participation in the production process. By means of questionnaires it was found that after termination of working activity the proportion of people seeking care at physician's office was decreasing while visits to feldsher-midwifery units were increasing. Each fourth respondent was not applying for medical care at all. Self-treatment was prevalent among rural pensioners. The level of chronic diseases prevalence according to medical visits in 6.6 times higher among lonely people residing in rural areas where there are hospitals than in rural areas where there are no hospitals.