The general meeting of the Association “Council of Rectors of Medical and Pharmaceutical Higher Educational Institutions” with the participation of the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Mikhail Murashko in online video conference format was held on 1.06.21. The meeting was attended by: Chairman of the Committee on Health Protection of the State Duma Dmitry Morozov; Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Tatyana Semenova; Director of the Department of Medical Education and Personnel Policy in Healthcare of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation Irina Kupeeva; all rectors of medical universities of the Russian Federation. Acting Rector Naid Mollaev and Acting Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Jamil Omarov took part from DSMU.

Chairman of the Association “Council of Rectors of Medical and Pharmaceutical Higher Educational Institutions”, Rector of the I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation Peter Glybochko announced the agenda and spoke about the work of the Council of Rectors since its last holding; in particular: questions about the role of medical universities in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, a joint meeting of the Sino-Russian Association of Medical Universities on the same topic.

Glybochko spoke about the creation of a monument that perpetuated the memory of all Russian doctors who died while performing their professional duty in the fight against COVID-19. It is installed on the territory of Sechenov University.

Pyotr Glybochko stressed that the new academic year 2021 is traditionally going to start from the 1^st September. The continuing risk of spreading coronavirus infection will determine blended learning. The rector also touched upon the issues of the Admission Campaign 2021, which differs from previous years, documents are accepted electronically. It was noted that the number of state-funded place increased to 30%, as well as the number of places for the target reception.

Further, Glybochko cited the dynamics of the number of COVID-19 cases among students and employees of Sechenov University in the period from September 2020 to June 2021. “The revealed dynamics indicate the need to increase the rate of vaccination of both employees and students of the university,” Glybochko said and urged everyone to be vaccinated.

Then the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Mikhail Murashko spoke. He thanked everyone who participated in the creation of the monument in memory of the doctors who died in the fight against COVID-19.

The first point of the minister’s speech concerned the most urgent problem for today — the situation with the coronavirus. “Today we see the third coronavirus wave and the number of patients is approaching 700 thousand. The spread is among the young active part of the population. Medical workers need the help of medical universities today. The heads of universities need to meet with the regional health authorities, discuss areas in which assistance is needed, including vaccination, outpatient work, etc. Currently, Moscow universities are actively involved, helping Moscow healthcare. I instruct the rectors of universities to join this instruction,” the minister said.

Murashko instructed all students to be sent to educational modules on vaccination against the new coronavirus infection. He called on rectors to conduct explanatory work among students so that by September the 1^st the bulk of students would be vaccinated.

The second issue that the Minister of Health brought up for discussion concerned the 2021 Admission Campaign. “As part of the admission campaign of 2021, a service for submitting documents of applicants through a unified portal of public services should work. This year, this function applies only to admission to the bachelor’s degree. The task of each manager is to ensure the functionality and operability of this service,” Murashko emphasized.

The third crucial issue that the Minister of Health raised in his speech was the preparation for the school season. The issues of maintaining sanitary and epidemiological well-being in educational organizations of higher education subordinated to the Ministry of Health of Russia during the admission campaign and preparation for the beginning of the academic year were discussed. The Minister gave instructions on ensuring the conduct of preventive vaccinations for epidemiological indications against the new coronavirus infection COVID-19. It is necessary to organize vaccination of students. Most students should be vaccinated before the start of the school year, he said.

Sergey Saigapov, Rector of the North-Western State Medical University named after I. I. Mechnikov of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, who spoke further, spoke about the main anti-epidemic measures against COVID-19 held at their university.

Olga Bashkina, Rector of Astrakhan State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation made a report “On the peculiarities of the implementation of the educational process and management of the university staff in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Roman Kozlov, Rector of the Smolensk State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, presented the report “Actions of the Smolensk State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation during the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection”.

At the end, we listened to the report of the rector of the Amur State Medical Academy of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation on the main directions of development of educational, scientific and medical activities of the Amur State Medical Academy in connection with the election to the post of rector. Speaker: Zabolotskikh-Rector of the Amur State Medical Academy of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

Deputy Head of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation Tatyana Semenova in conclusion gave recommendations to all heads of medical universities to work with their employees and students, to conduct explanatory conversations with the population about the need for vaccination.

DSMU Press Service