INTERVIEW: Muscovites are increasingly coming to Vitebsk to give birth

EARNING YOUR OWN WAY TO BETTER TREATMENT The Year of Entrepreneurship is often associated solely with business. It is said that private business has room to maneuver, while in the social sphere, one cannot be particularly enterprising: you spend only as much as is allocated from the budget. However, economic realities dictate their own rules. Thus, medicine, which until recently was a purely budget-funded sector, is learning not only to count money but also to earn currency. BELTA correspondent discusses how the Hippocratic Oath and a calculator coexist with the Head of the Healthcare Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Yuri DERKACH. - By 2015, Belarus plans to earn approximately $200 million from the export of medical services. Just a few years ago, such a task would have been considered fantastic. However, the current trend indicates that medical tourism in Belarus is a reality. How is this new direction developing in the border Vitebsk region? - First of all, I want to note that the large-scale renewal of the healthcare material and technical base allows our doctors to provide a wide range of medical services. Last year alone, almost Br43 billion was allocated for the modernization and reconstruction of healthcare facilities in the region. High-tech diagnostic and therapeutic equipment is being acquired for medical institutions. Vitebsk specialists are actively mastering the latest treatment technologies, with an emphasis on implementing high-tech interventions even in district-level medical facilities. The development of high-tech care at the district level makes it possible to leverage the favorable geographical location of the Vitebsk region to increase service exports. A significant number of foreign patients are citizens of Russia, Lithuania, and Latvia, with whom the region shares borders. At the same time, conditions are being created in the region so that during the summer season, foreign tourists, along with relaxing on the lakes of the Dvina region, can also improve their health in local medical institutions. Despite the fact that medical institutions in the region had provided services to foreign citizens before, medical tourism was not yet a concept here. It was only in June of last year that we began to purposefully engage in this activity, creating a system of tourist medical services. As a result, in 2010, the region earned Br1 billion 130 million from the export of medical services. The growth rate was just under 200%. - What does the system of providing medical tourism services look like in Vitebsk? - The first thing we did was create a register of medical services provided in the region. It includes well-equipped facilities, such as maternity hospital No. 1, the regional dental clinic, and central district hospitals in border areas. Then, based on the second regional clinical hospital, the Center for Medical Tourism Services of Vitebsk and the Vitebsk Region was established. This center not only promotes the medical tourism product but also develops and organizes treatment and wellness programs in state clinics. It is worth emphasizing that treatment plans are developed individually for each patient, and there is also an option to book transfers, excursions, and even a guide-translator. For foreign patients, all information about the bureau and the service register is available on the Internet. It is worth noting that while the Center for Medical Tourism Services was being created, medical professionals themselves actively conducted a promotional campaign in the nearby Smolensk and Pskov regions and attracted insurance companies to cooperate. Today, the good reputation of Vitebsk doctors is spreading like ripples on water. There are many positive reviews on internet forums, and word-of-mouth is also working in our favor. This is what happened with expectant mothers from Moscow, who increasingly prefer the Vitebsk maternity hospital No. 1 to those in Moscow. Life in the Russian capital is difficult due to traffic jams. If you are admitted to a maternity hospital in advance, not for medical reasons, it is expensive for an ordinary family. It is cheaper to come to Vitebsk five to seven days before childbirth, stay in a hotel, undergo an examination, and know that you will receive qualified help and attentive, friendly care at any moment. Patients live calmly, get acquainted with the city's attractions, and when labor begins, they come without hindrance and give birth in modern, well-equipped delivery rooms. Many also stay in the regional center for a few days after discharge from the maternity hospital to seek medical attention if necessary. - Yuri Nikolaevich, what are the plans for the current year? - In 2011, we intend to earn an order of magnitude more from medical tourism than in 2010 – Br17 billion. And I assure you, all the prerequisites for this have been created. For example, Braslav district alone will contribute Br1 billion to export earnings. By the beginning of the holiday season, a rehabilitation center with 40 beds will be put into operation here. In Glubokoye, the district dental clinic will operate at full capacity. It was commissioned at the end of last year, and this year it will already be generating profit. By the way, the choice of the clinic's construction site was not accidental: people come to Glubokoye to have their teeth treated from the border regions of Latvia and Russia. - And what will the earned funds be used for? - We intend to use the currency earned this year to purchase unique surgical equipment for the regional oncology dispensary, which will allow us to provide care to patients with stage one and two cancer and significantly extend their full lives. Only three clinics in the CIS – in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kyiv – have such equipment. The most important thing for doctors is people's health, so we will spend the earned funds only on innovative equipment. - Yuri Nikolaevich, won't it turn out that in the pursuit of earning more from medical tourism and, consequently, treating more foreign patients, our doctors will be unable to pay due attention to their own fellow citizens? There are standards that dictate a certain number of doctors per population. With the increase in foreign patients, the number of people needing medical care increases, while the number of doctors remains the same? - Social standards are being met. We have enough medical staff. We sometimes do not account for doctors providing care in commercial and departmental polyclinics, as well as the professorial and teaching staff of medical universities. We should also not forget that new equipment is replacing old equipment, which reduces the number of examinations and, therefore, doctor visits. New technologies have emerged that do not require a large number of medical personnel. For example, we have purchased biochemical analyzers for district hospitals. This device allows for the reduction of several laboratory assistant positions. On the one hand, positions are freed up, and funds are saved, but on the other hand, people cannot be fired; they must be provided with work. So, those freed up will work with foreign patients. Thanks to state investments, our district hospitals have received expensive equipment that, unfortunately, is not yet operating in 2-3 shifts. And not because there are no specialists. There are no patients. However, these are state funds, and they must be recouped, which means providing an opportunity for everyone who wishes to use this equipment. A family comes for a vacation, let them receive medical services: the husband can get a biochemical blood analysis, and the wife can undergo a mammography screening. - Yuri Nikolaevich, so what is medical entrepreneurship and can it affect the quality of treatment? - Considering the increased salaries of medical professionals, investments in the healthcare sector of the Vitebsk region from all sources will amount to Br730 billion this year. This is a huge amount of money for the budget. Therefore, our task is to use these funds rationally, and to direct the saved finances to the development of the sector without compromising the health of our patients. For example, in 2010, the application of modern treatment technologies allowed for a reduction in the bed fund, which resulted in savings of almost Br7 billion. This year, we also plan to optimize the bed fund, which will allow us to save a considerable sum that will be used for the technical equipment of our medical institutions. As for the quality of medical services, it will not decrease in any way, because the accumulated material base allows for the active implementation of progressive intensive treatment technologies. There is no point in keeping a gastroenterological patient in the hospital, for example. How were they treated before? Examination, a protective regimen, and inpatient treatment for almost two weeks. Now the approach is different: examination and treatment on an outpatient basis, with 2-3 days in the hospital if the patient's condition is moderate. Currently, this methodology is being tested at the Postavy Central District Hospital. The patient first goes to the intensive care unit, then to the general ward, and then is monitored in the day hospital. Moreover, all departments work autonomously, and medical staff are interested in providing the full range of care so that the patient recovers faster, thereby reducing their stay in the department and, consequently, saving considerable financial resources, part of which will go to staff bonuses. At the same time, by transferring the patient from one department to another, medical staff monitor each other's work, thus ensuring a kind of three-stage control. The experiment yields positive results, the main one being a reduction in complications during the course of diseases. This methodology allows the patient to recover faster, leads to reduced budget costs, and, most importantly, ensures quality treatment. As a doctor, I am confident that we all need to be enterprising, especially with our own health. It's time to learn to take care of it. And for this, a high level of culture and conditions for a full life are necessary, so that a person finds life interesting and is reluctant to part with it. Diana KURILO, BELTA.-0-