Over 12,000 children from the Chernobyl-affected regions have undergone health improvement at the expense of the Union State budget over 10 years

October 8, Lepel district / Kristina Kurlovich - BELTA /. More than 12,000 Belarusian and Russian children have undergone health improvement at the expense of the Union State budget over ten years of implementing the Union measure on organizing treatment and health improvement for children from the most affected areas of Belarus and Russia by the Chernobyl NPP disaster. This was announced today to journalists by Ivan Yanovich, Head of the Social Policy Department of the Department of Social Policy and Information Support of the Standing Committee of the Union State, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. Of these, more than 1,800 children underwent health improvement at the "Zhemchuzhina" children's rehabilitation and health resort center in the Lepel district, which has been one of the permanent implementers of the Union State program since 2004. Today, the "Union State Day at Zhemchuzhina" was held at the center, dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the Union measure on organizing treatment and health improvement for children from areas affected by the Chernobyl NPP disaster. Traditionally, children from the Bryansk, Kaluga, and Tula regions, as well as from the Gomel, Brest, and Mogilev regions, are received here. "Over the past ten years, in implementing the Union State measure, we have provided health improvement for 12,000 children. But we are not going to stop there; on the contrary, we plan to involve the maximum number of children, providing health improvement for up to 2,000 children per year," said Ivan Yanovich. He noted that annually the Union State announces a competition to select health resort centers that will receive children under this program. "We set quite strict parameters for the selection of such institutions, and the fact that 'Zhemchuzhina' has been participating in this work for many years indicates that this center meets them," emphasized the head of the social policy department. As Maria Zhelnerene, Deputy Director for Medical Affairs at the "Zhemchuzhina" Children's Rehabilitation and Health Resort Center, explained, in order to optimize all efforts for the health improvement and sanatorium-resort treatment of children, the center has opted for selecting individual complexes of procedures. "We have created and developed health improvement complexes at our facility, which are sets of procedures applied for a particular pathology. They are selected individually based on the medical documentation that the child brings with them and the examinations conducted at the center," the specialist explained. The complexes include hydrotherapy, massages, halotherapy, aromatherapy, and swimming pool sessions. The procedure called "Musical Path" is also widely used. According to the deputy director, it trains the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems and strengthens the nervous system: "This happens because the child doses physical activity with a musical piece. During the sessions, children not only improve their health but also receive a boost of positive emotions." During the period of operation of the "Zhemchuzhina" Children's Rehabilitation and Health Resort Center from 2002 to September 2012, more than 59,000 people from the Gomel, Mogilev, and Brest regions underwent health improvement here. This year, it is planned to provide health improvement for over 5,600 people from the areas of Belarus most affected by the Chernobyl NPP disaster and 295 people under the vouchers of the Union State.-0-