The iodine in iodised salt available in Belarus has an effective shelf-life of only 6 months. Added to hot or boiling food, in any case, it loses its nutritional value. The elderly suffering from the usual constellation of complaints of old age must travel from clinic to clinic to have each condition treated separately. There are no geriatric clinics. Old age homes, such as they are, are little better than penal dormitories.
Medicines are frequently unavailable from state pharmacies.
When they can be purchased privately they are almost always beyond the means of pensioners. A bottle of aspirin, for example, costs, on average, as 2 and half days of pension payments. People have to choose between food and medicine. They live lives of pain and hunger. The level of social welfare remains extremely low.