Komsomolskaya Pravda: "Putin invites a girl from the oncological centre to visit the Kremlin on Victory Day"
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the recently constructed Moscow Children's Oncology Centre.
"Where is my crocodile? You took my order but haven't fulfilled it!" a woman softly scolds her small son.
Small kids with bandages are playing on stuffed chairs with toy cars and musical instruments. Bright lamps and walls with floral patterns are both inside and outside – everything is designed to please a child's eye.
On Wednesday, Putin visited the Dima Rogachyov Federal Research and Clinical Centre for Children's Hematology, Oncology and Immunology that opened in Moscow last year. The history of this unique centre had a sad start. In 2005 Dima Rogachyov, sick with leucosis, wrote a letter to Putin, inviting him if they could eat pancakes together. The then president visited the boy in the hospital, after which the idea to build a children's oncology centre was born. During construction Putin suggested naming it after Dima Rogachyov, who died in 2007.
The centre's Director Alexander Rumyantsev told journalists: "This is the only centre in Moscow where parents can stay with their children the whole time, even during an operation. Our main achievement is bone marrow transplant. We plan to perform 200 surgeries this year."
Putin has inspected the construction site every year and accepted the final results on Wednesday. He visited two girls in the bone marrow transplant department, where visitors are separated from patients by glass. Actress Chulpan Khamatova, a co-founder of the Gift of Life foundation that has closely cooperated with the centre from the start, gave Putin a tour of the clinic. After the tour, Putin went to the playroom to talk to the children.
"This is a big room, simply a great place," Putin said. "Probably, you don't want to get home too soon. Do you have many friends here?"
Sonya Pyatnitsa, a perky seven-year old girl from the Pskov Region, left the crowd of kids surrounding Putin. This was the only centre that would accept this seriously ill girl for treatment. Sonya did not waste any time. She had already managed to be filmed with Diana Arbenina and had even talked to Putin during his previous visit, something she reminded him of.
"You promised to show me the Kremlin last year but never did," Sonya reprimanded the guest.
"If everything goes well for you here, and I'm sure it will, I will arrange a tour of the Kremlin for you. I invite you to come on May 9. We will celebrate Victory Day," Putin smiled.
"Can I bring my dad with me?" Sonya asked.
"Of course you can but what about your mom?" Putin asked and then headed for the door. At that point he and the kids were surrounded by clowns who started putting multi-coloured bulbs in his pockets.
The centre's employees said these special hospital clowns visit them regularly.
Availing herself of the opportunity, Khamatova made an appeal: "This fantastic new centre has one problem – a lack of blood, because few donors have come here so far. We have a big request for all of you – please come and donate your blood. This is absolutely crucial. We are suffering from an extreme shortage of blood."
Yelena Chinkova
