Russian Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova visited a new perinatal center in Petrozavodsk
Russia's Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova visited a new perinatal center in Petrozavodsk during her working visit to attend the meeting of the State Commission on the preparation for the 100th anniversary of Karelia.
The perinatal center was built under direct order from the President of Vladimir Putin as part of the Federal Program for perinatal centers development, aimed at improving public health and demographic situation in Russia. The implementation of this program in the republic is monitored by the State Commission on the preparation for the 100th anniversary of Karelia, with Veronika Skvortsova heading one of its working groups.
A modern building, high-tech equipment, highly-qualified staff specifically trained for providing obstetrics services - all this will enable to significantly improve the quality of diagnosis and healthcare services, nurse the newborns, help women, and develop new areas of medical practice.
The Head of Karelia Arthur Parfenchikov described the opening of the new republican perinatal center as a great and long-awaited achievement. "The result has exceeded all our expectations. The Republic has never had such a clinic for obstetrics services and infant care. This is the greatest regional healthcare project over the recent years. In many ways, it symbolizes a new stage of development not only of our healthcare industry, but of the Republic in general. New residents of Karelia - the future of our region - will be born in this perinatal center. Over the years they will become teachers, doctors, managers, and workers. I am sure that they will always be proud to remember that their first home was such a large and modern clinic, where one really feels like home," he said.
On December 5, the new perinatal center started providing consulting and diagnostic services to the first patients, while on December 10 all the obstetrics departments started their work.
Veronika Skvortsova, Valentina Pivnenko, member of the Russian State Duma, Elissan Shandalovich, Chair of Karelia's Legislative Assembly, and Mikhail Ohlopkov, Karelia's Acting Minister of Health, visited the neonatal department, the newborn intensive care unit, and the radiology department. In the postpartum department Veronika Skvortsova congratulated a woman from Medvezhyegorsk, whose daughter Alexandra became the first child born in the new perinatal center. According to the head physician Yevgeny Tuchin, on the morning of December 14, his employees helped 37 babies to be born.
During the Minister's visit, the telemedical center was conducting a video conference aimed at providing recommendations to the specialists of the Interdistrict Hospital No. 1 on a complicated case of triple pregnancy.
Veronika Skvortsova congratulated Kostomuksha doctors on the opening of the perinatal center.
"I am very glad that the republican perinatal center began to work. This is obviously an additional opportunity for specialists to become a part of a great team of professionals, and to work within a single perinatological system. Real-time telemedicine guarantees the highest quality of medical care. I want to thank all of you for your work, because recently we have seen steady decline in infant and maternal mortality rates, which is a very good trend," she said.
Two and a half billion rubles were allocated from budgets of different levels for constructing and equipping the perinatal center meant for 130 patients. The center was built by Rostec State Corporation.
"Construction of such clinics contributes to solving the demographic problem in Russia and increases the availability of high-quality medical care in the regions. Rostec Corporation has commissioned the design, construction and equipment purchase for 15 perinatal centers across the country. These are complex objects with a non-standard layout, complex engineering systems, and high-tech equipment. All in all, they have capacity to accept more than 45 thousand women per year. Medical equipment installed in these clinics enables to provide care for premature babies that weigh as little as 500 grams and effective medical help in other difficult cases," said the head of Rostec Sergey Chemezov.
Karelian experts discussed the further development of the perinatal center with the Minister of Health and told her about their plans to open the department of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and a simulation center for specialists' training and re-training.
"It's great to feel that we are developing and moving forward. It is a beautiful modern, well-equipped center with very nice atmosphere. It uses many technological advances: all the digital devices and instruments are merged into a single digital network, which is already available to all Karelian maternity hospitals. Registering all pregnant women in a single database is the key to effective system operation. And you also have everything that you need for further development," said Veronika Skvortsova during her conversation with the perinatal center's employees.
