Vladimir Putin visits doctors in Ivanovo.
Yesterday in Ivanovo, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced the government's decision to double the funding of healthcare. Kommersant special correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov describes how the prime minister watched a 38- year-old patient with circulation failure undergo treatment. Doctors were trying to avoid craniotomy.
Employees of the angiography room and the televised medicine center in the second pre-operating room were exchanging impressions before Putin's arrival. Taking part in the conversation were Professor Dolgushin from Moscow (seen on the television monitor), two female doctors from Kineshma, and their colleagues from Ivanovo.
"Attention! This is a five-minute notice," someone announced in the room.
"We've been ready for five hours now," the Moscow professor said.
"And we've been ready since November 4," Valentin Plekhanov, department head of the Ivanovo regional clinic hospital, added.
"And do you know that today is a holiday?" asked a doctor from Kineshma on the television monitor.
"What holiday? Has Mr Putin arrived?" someone asked with concern.
"No," she said triumphantly. "Today is 115 years since the discovery of X-rays."
"Okay. Once we are done, we'll immediately start celebrating," the professor from Moscow said.
"But the rays were discovered on the night of November 8," Plekhanov sighed dramatically.
"No wonder. They are only visible at night," the Moscow professor muttered.
"In other words, the holiday has already passed," Plekhanov stated.
"And my Dad says that those who are look forward to ta holiday get drunk before it even starts," a radiologist from Kineshma said.
It is hard to say for how long they would have talked if the prime minister did not enter the room. The radiologist from Kineshma whose father speaks in catch phrases told Putin nonchalantly that they had received a 38-year-old patient with heavy brain injury and circulation failure.
"Intracerebral hematomas in the frontal and temporal regions; possibly, the aneurysm of the mesencephalic artery on the right," she went on.
"We've received your diagnosis," Plekhanov nodded. "Craniotomy and clamping are a must, but modern technology makes it possible to do this with the least trauma to the skull."
"The patient is in moderately grave condition and transportable," the doctor from Kineshma summed up.
"This is the main thing. Get him to us," Plekhanov exclaimed.
The Moscow professor only had to confirm that the examination was conducted at the highest level and that his recommendations are mainly psychological.
Apparently, he hastened to finish the conference and start celebrating the 115th anniversary of the X-ray discovery.
Putin made no comments in the pre-operating room. Speaking at the conference on modernising healthcare in 2011 and 2012, he emphasized that the funds set aside for this purpose must supplement rather than replace the allocations made by the regions. Putin criticized the regions for this several times, indicating that this was standard practice.
Minister of Healthcare and Social Development Tatyana Golikova said that the death rate and the birth rate in rural areas were very high (this is how they calculate the average).
"A higher death rate was registered in July and August," she observed (Apparently, people were killed by fires and smog – A.K.). In September, the death rate went down.
Putin noted a 7.5% decrease in the infant mortality rate over two years.
The prime minister enjoyed enthusiastic support from Pskov Region Governor Andrei Turchak, who has frequently made the news in connection with other events. However, at this conference, he was a participant rather than a suspect.
He talked about the new standards in healthcare and mentioned that the death rate was steadily lagging behind the birth rate, at least in his region. Lipetsk Region Governor Oleg Korolyov bluntly disagreed:
"No matter what Turchak says, the nation is becoming extinct!"
Putin gave the floor to Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin, who said that 30% of the buildings accommodating medical institutions require major repairs, and 40% of their equipment must be replaced.
"This will cost 240 billion roubles," the mayor said, adding that the Moscow City Government will contribute a rouble from its budget for every rouble from the federal centre.
"I was really pleased to hear that," the prime minister shook his head. "At first you said that you need 240 billion roubles, but we have 460 billion roubles for the entire programme..."
Summing up, Putin said that the funding will amount to 446 billion roubles per year over the next three years and that an additional 460 billion roubles will be channeled into modernising healthcare. He said it was important to understand what is going on in every district and to establish what medical services most urgently needed.
"We did not have medical standards until recently. Now, the Ministry of Healthcare has elaborated 1,170 standards... When we speak about standards, we get scared – they will show the real funding behind medicine. Apparently, people won't gain much even if we double the current federal funding," Putin concluded.