At least 5,000 Russians marched on a frosty Sunday afternoon in Moscow to protest plans to lay off thousands of doctors and close hospitals against the backdrop of a flagging economy. Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP hide caption

At least 5,000 Russians marched on a frosty Sunday afternoon in Moscow to protest plans to lay off thousands of doctors and close hospitals against the backdrop of a flagging economy.

In the numbing cold, several thousand demonstrators marched in Moscow on Sunday, protesting plans to make drastic cuts in the city's health care system. It was the second protest in the past month over a pocketbook issue that affects most Russian consumers especially as people feel the effects of a weakening economy.

Protesters waved flags and carried banners with slogans like "Save money on war, not on doctors." It was a relatively small demonstration, but it drew broad support. And it signaled that while Russian President Vladimir Putin has been facing growing international isolation for his foreign policy, he's also under pressure at home.

The demonstrators ranged from doctors and patients groups saying the medical system desperately needs reform to Communists who want to return to a Soviet-style system of free medical care.

They all say the government's reform plan is a heavy-handed scheme concocted by government bureaucrats who never consulted the medical community.

"They haven't explained anything to anybody," says Tatiana Korshunova, a blood technician on a heart-surgery team. "They haven't explained why they're cutting the number of hospitals or how they're going to do that. They haven't explained why they're cutting the number of doctors."

The government's plan would eliminate jobs for up to 10,000 doctors and close 28 of Moscow's hospitals and clinics by early next year. Korshunova says it is humiliating that medical workers weren't consulted on something that impacts so many of them.

The city administration says the closed hospitals will eventually be replaced by neighborhood outpatient clinics. Pavel, a 30-year-old cardiologist, says that's just doing things backwards.

"We do need reforms, but not the way they're doing it," he says. "They need to build up the clinics before they close hospitals and lay people off."

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Protesters In Moscow Demand Explanation For Health Care Cuts