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Russia

Moscow Tries to Woo Doctors With Free Rent

KOMMSERSANT (Russia)



Worldcrunch

MOSCOW - The doctor is in the house! At least, that is what Moscow’s city government is hoping.

Under a new program called “The doctor is next door,” the city will be renting space to private medical practices on the first floor of residential buildings for 1 ruble ($0.03) per square meter per year.

In return, the general practitioners and pediatricians will be expected to provide services for free, although other doctors will be able to charge, Kommersant reports. The general practitioners and pediatricians will be paid a salary from Russia’s compulsory medical insurance fund.

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Photo Alex E. Proimos

The city is taking these steps in an effort to reduce the load on public clinics and to increase access to family doctors, Kommersant reports. It’s not the first time the city has used very low rents to encourage private investment in projects the city wanted done - the city has also offered very low rents for historical buildings as long as they are properly restored.

All dilapidated buildings in need of repairs can also be rented for a symbolic sum as long as the renters open a private preschool after renovation.

Experts had varying opinions about the effectiveness of the program, which was announced this week. Some heralded it as a good way to help doctors fight against high rents in Moscow while others doubted that there were enough trained family doctors to go around. Others worried that the free consultations would be used to pressure patients into unnecessary, and costly, medical procedures, Kommersant reports.

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Society

Italy's Right-Wing Government Turns Up The Heat On 'Gastronationalism'

Rome has been strongly opposed to synthetic foods, insect-based flours and health warnings on alcohol, and aggressive lobbying by Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government against nutritional labeling has prompted accusations in Brussels of "gastronationalism."

Dough is run through a press to make pasta

Creation of home made pasta

Karl De Meyer et Olivier Tosseri

ROME — On March 23, the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, announced that Rome would ask UNESCO to recognize Italian cuisine as a piece of intangible cultural heritage.

On March 28, Lollobrigida, who is also Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's brother-in-law, promised that Italy would ban the production, import and marketing of food made in labs, especially artificial meat — despite the fact that there is still no official request to market it in Europe.

Days later, Italian Eurodeputy Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of fascist leader Benito Mussolini and member of the Forza Italia party, which is part of the governing coalition in Rome, caused a sensation in the European Parliament. On the sidelines of the plenary session, Sophia Loren's niece organized a wine tasting, under the slogan "In Vino Veritas," to show her strong opposition (and that of her government) to an Irish proposal to put health warnings on alcohol bottles. At the end of the press conference, around 11am, she showed her determination by drinking from the neck of a bottle of wine, to great applause.

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