Information on whether Moldovan doctors are withholding medical services or treatment to Russian-speaking patients is currently unavailable to the DIRB.

The coordinator of Médecins du monde (MDM) in Bucharest, who has been monitoring the health service situation in the region for the last five years, stated during a telephone interview with the DIRB that there is no systematic discrimination against Russian-speaking patients, and that he has never noticed any problems of this nature (9 Nov. 1994). He reported that hospitals are plagued by shortages of medicine, unsanitary conditions, poorly maintained and obsolete equipment (ibid.). He added that most of the key positions in hospitals are filled by Russian-speakers (ibid.).

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find attached the list of additional sources consulted in researching this information request.

Médecins du monde (MDM), Bucharest. 9 November 1994. Telephone interview with coordinator.

Amnesty International. Yearly. Amnesty International Report.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly. United States Department of State.

Human Rights Watch (HRW). Yearly. Human Rights Watch World Report.

Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (LCHR). Critique: Review of the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly.

Monitor [Washington, DC].

News From Helsinki Watch [New York]. Monthly.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). Yearly. Annual Report.

Physicians for Human Rights Record [Boston]. Quarterly.

RFE/RL Research Report [Munich]. Weekly.

On-line searches.
Oral sources:
Oral sources are usually contacted when documentary sources have been exhausted. However, oral sources must agree to be quoted in a publicly available Response to Information Request. If they refuse, the Response will read "no information currently available." Contacting oral sources is also subject to time constraints; for example, periods of the year when academics are unavailable.