Healthcare facilities in the Vitebsk region will receive twice as much funding in 2013 as in the previous year
Considerable funds have been allocated for the modernization and reconstruction of healthcare facilities in the region over the past few years. The most large-scale projects completed last year were the Vitebsk City Central Children's Polyclinic and the Sharkovshchina Central Regional Hospital. In total, by the end of 2012, over eighty medical facilities were commissioned in the Dvina region, 36 of which are in rural areas.
While 280 billion rubles were spent on the construction and reconstruction of healthcare facilities last year, almost twice as much is planned to be allocated for these purposes in 2013: 530-540 billion. According to Yuri Derkach, Head of the Healthcare Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, the construction of the therapeutic building of the emergency hospital and two blocks of the regional clinical hospital will soon be completed. The reconstruction of the regional psychiatric and infectious disease hospitals will be finished. A 3-story extension to the Vitebsk Regional Children's Clinical Hospital will be commissioned. The construction of a polyclinic in the "YuG-7" microdistrict will continue. In the central city hospital of the capital of the Dvina region, work in the therapeutic building will be partially completed, and reconstruction of the surgery department will begin.
– The commissioning of facilities in Novopolotsk and Orsha is planned for early 2014. Two angiographic complexes will appear there, – says Yuri Derkach. – Thus, the ambulances that were purchased earlier will be able to deliver people with acute coronary syndrome to specialized rooms within 30-35 minutes, saving patients from serious consequences due to a possible myocardial infarction or stroke. This will significantly reduce the number of deaths or disabilities.
By the way, life expectancy in 2012 was 71 years. In the Dvina region, overall mortality has significantly decreased, especially among people of working age – by almost 1 per mille. Infant mortality remained at the same level, and maternal mortality was zero. Previously, the demographic security program planned to reduce mortality to 15 per mille in 2013, but now there are prerequisites that a better result can be achieved – 13.5 per mille.
– We have carried out serious transformations in the healthcare system, saving an additional 17 billion rubles in the process, – continues Yuri Derkach. – The bed fund has been reduced to the necessary social standards. Moreover, Novopolotsk, Vitebsk, Ushachi, and Glubokoye did not even use this fund to its full extent. Primarily, the provision of medical care has been shifted to the outpatient clinic level: such treatment is less expensive and yields economic benefits. The available beds were used for the export of medical services, increasing it by almost 2 times. The volume of paid services has grown approximately 1.6 times. In total, this amounted to 9.6 percent of the budget financing, which allowed us to increase salaries and allocate part of the funds for the purchase of equipment and the implementation of new technologies in regional clinics.