The centre can treat up to 400 children at once.
Construction of the Federal Research and Clinical Centre of Child Hematology, Oncology and Immunology began in south-western Moscow in 2005 on Vladimir Putin's initiative. Putin supervised the project and visited the construction site.
"I didn't come up with the idea. I'm a work superintendent who has implemented your idea," Putin told doctors June 1. "I remember very well that I came here six years ago at the request of a little patient named Dima Rogachyov. The decision to begin construction was taken after my conversations with him, other little patients, their parents and doctors," Putin added.
A visibly moved Putin said: "It would be no exaggeration to say that I was surprised and delighted by the way specialists from different countries responded to this project, with so much heart and warmth. This is absolutely surprising. Such professional solidarity should be a model for other spheres, including politics."
Russia has completely financed the project, which received almost 11 billion roubles in government funding. French and US specialists were also involved in the project. Incidentally, 28 of the centre's doctors are now undergoing advanced training in Germany. In the past five years, 96 doctors and 54 researchers have been trained to work at the centre. Instructors from leading university clinics in the United States and Germany will be invited to train the centre's nurses.
Up to 400 children can be accommodated at the centre, which will utilise up-to-date technologies that have never been used in Russia before.
The centre will prioritise bone marrow transplants at a rate of 250-300 per year. Russian doctors perform about 150 such operations each year, while current demand is at least 800-1,000 operations.
Alexander Gamov