According to a new study, less than half of Russian people visited a traditional medical doctor last year – but government statistics show that 300,000 people in Moscow went to alternative medical practitioners in 2010.

Public Radio International’s “The World” looked into the Russian practice of visiting alternative healers. There are 800,000 of them in Russia, which is more than there are medically trained doctors.

So is healthcare too expensive? No – it’s actually almost free. It’s not high-quality, though, so many Russians don’t trust it. Primary school teacher Marina Belorysova told The World that “at least [people] know when they use alternative medicine nothing really bad will happen. When they go for a surgery they don’t know whether they will live or not. If they do alternative medicine that maybe it won’t help but nothing bad will happen.”

Belorysova said that alternative medicine in Russia is largely based on herbs and spells – yes, spells. She told of a friend of hers who had a sick baby and who chose to visit a woman who could cast a spell on the illness. The ailment went away, she said, after the visit to the alternative healer.

Russian authorities are beginning to crack down on alternative medicine, especially healers who claim to be clairvoyant. The government is attempting to pass a bill blocking mystics from advertising their services in mass media – psychics and faith healers, among others, would be forbidden to promote themselves in newspapers, on TV, and online. There are already several alternative healers who have popular TV shows.

The Russian government is concerned that the interest in alternative medicine means many Russians are being swindled. Duma committee head Evgeny Fedorov, who works in the departments of economic policy and entrepreneurship, told the Russian media that Russians risk being taken for a ride when they put too much faith in alternative healers.

Source: http://www.grannymed.com/news/herbal-medicine/russians-embrace-alternative-medicine