On April 28, the republican seminar-meeting “Modernization of healthcare and development of medicine in the Republic of Dagestan” was held  during which topical issues of the industry, health problems and ways to solve them were discussed. The moderator was the acting rector of the DSMU Visampasha Khanaliev.

Opening the seminar, the Head of the Republic of Dagestan  Sergey Melikov welcomed the audience and noted that this is the third meeting in a series of training events at which the most pressing problems for the republic are discussed by an expanded staff  with the involvement of experts: “Heads of government bodies, heads of municipalities receive feedback here, consider various ways of developing industries based on the current situation on the ground, jointly develop a strategy for each specific area.”

The head of the region said that work in this format will continue  since such an analysis of activities allows for better synchronization of the efforts of the authorities in key areas of work.

Sergey Melikov noted that a great responsibility for organizing work on the ground, solving problematic issues lies with the heads of municipalities: “Healthcare is a special situation, an issue that is always at the forefront of public attention, because health protection concerns every resident of the republic, every Dagestan family. It is necessary to be able to take responsibility for yourself, to be responsible not only for the organization and distribution of budget funds but also for the life and health of citizens, establishing, among other things, work on the purchase of medicines, the purchase of equipment that should contribute to the recovery of the nation. An effective healthcare system means an increase in life expectancy, stable demographic indicators, an increase in the number and well–being of the population.”

It was noted that in recent years, both the region and the federal center have paid special attention to medicine. The pandemic required a powerful resource and personnel mobilization of the healthcare system  and many positive changes have taken place in this important area. However, the virus has not yet been defeated, so protecting citizens from the pandemic and its consequences is still an urgent task. This is, first of all, the building up of collective immunity and the pace of vaccination, testing, rehabilitation of seriously ill people.

The head of Dagestan stressed: “The national Healthcare project has become a serious impetus for us, thanks to which we have significantly increased the capabilities of our medicine in certain areas. At the same time, it is necessary to concentrate on problem areas that interfere with positive dynamics: first of all, this concerns the development of the primary link, which is the basis of all health care. It is by the primary link that people assess the effectiveness of the state’s work to protect the health of citizens. People should be confident in affordable modern medical care  and rural health workers should be in decent working conditions.”

Sergey Melikov drew attention to the fact that a lot of work has been done on the technical equipment of medical organizations but the problem with queues has not been solved. “It is necessary to expand the use of modern electronic services and services in healthcare, to increase the practice of remote communication between a doctor and a patient, including through the portal of state and municipal services. We have all the necessary technical conditions for this,” he stressed.

The head of the region noted that the provision of medical care cannot be effective without covering the needs for medicines, medical equipment. In this regard, the Ministry of Health of   Dagestan Republic in cooperation with the procurement Committee, the State Financial Control Service and municipalities  was instructed to pay attention to the procurement system  as  it needs to be built so that they go centrally, systematically without failures and bureaucratic delays.

In conclusion, Sergey Melikov touched upon the problem of training qualified personnel and related issues of social guarantees, the salary level of medical workers. In this regard, he stressed the need for local administrations to create conditions for attracting qualified personnel to the industry.

Then Sergey Melnikov congratulated the workers and veterans of the emergency medical service on their professional holiday and presented the distinguished employees of the industry with state awards.

In continuation of the seminar, General Director of the Almazov National Medical Research Center of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation Evgeny Shlyakhto, President of the Russian Cardiological Society, addressed the audience via video link. He spoke about the federal project “Fight against cardiovascular diseases” and its implementation in the regions, in particular – in Dagestan. Among the key tasks in the field of cardiological care, the specialist named the development of a cardiovascular risk management system, further improvement of emergency care based on territorial planning, expansion of the program of preferential drug provision and others, including improving the quality of training, testing innovative technologies, increasing the stability of cardiological care regardless of the epidemiological situation.

In turn, the Minister of Health of the Republic of Dagestan Tatyana Belyaeva told in her speech about the state of health in Dagestan.

The head of the department noted that in the last 2 years, the material and technical base of medical organizations has been significantly strengthened. An additional 24 CT scanners and 8 units of heavy medical equipment were delivered in 2020. Currently, there are 59 units of heavy equipment in 34 medical organizations of the republic, including 44 CT scans in 33 organizations, 6 angiographs in 5 and 9 magnetic resonance tomographs in 6 organizations .

Speaking about the program “Modernization of primary health care”, the head of the regional Ministry of Health said that as part of its implementation, measures are envisaged aimed at ensuring the availability of medical care for residents of small settlements and remote territories of the republic. There will be no settlements in the Republic of Dagestan  by 2025 with a population of 100 to 2000 people, outside the zone of access to medical care  due to the creation of new paramedic and obstetric centers and the acquisition of mobile  complexes. As part of the primary care modernization program, 427 units of medical equipment and 177 units of sanitary vehicles were purchased in 2021 to deliver patients to medical organizations.