[The development of primary medical health care in Russia]

The socio-ethical aspect in the development of primary health care in Russia is discussed. The authors analyze the role of this type of care in provision of available and free of charge, which is important in principle, medical care at the level of the primary contact between a patient and medical worker. Primary health care under present-day conditions should occupy one of the principal positions in the public health reforms. The major approaches to priority development of health care are considered, including the renaissance of the progressive traditions of zemstvo medicine, development of new approaches to redistribution of scarce resources of public health on the basis of social justice principle, social control of the distribution of resources, purposeful attention to personnel training, including training of general practitioners (family physicians), solution of a number of organizational, medicosocial, legal, ethical, and other problems, and expansion of contacts with popular medicine.