The therapeutic building of the regional children's clinical center has opened in Vitebsk

The 145-bed therapeutic building of the Vitebsk Regional Children's Clinical Center opened today after reconstruction.

The renovated building houses the neurology, nephrology, allergology, gastroenterology, and physiotherapy departments, ultrasound and functional diagnostics, and provides comfortable conditions for students of Vitebsk medical universities and medical colleges, as well as for doctors' professional development. "We will improve the quality and accessibility of services for our young patients, of whom over 16,000 pass through the center's inpatient facility annually. New study rooms and a laboratory, lecture halls, offices for teachers, and a simulation center for training mid-level medical personnel have been equipped for medical staff training," explained Galina Puzanova, chief physician of the children's medical center. Almost Br57 billion from the regional budget was invested in the reconstruction for the repair work itself and the purchase of additional equipment (most of which was transferred from other buildings). In addition, the freed-up areas of the center's surgical department will now be converted into an ophthalmology department.

Equipment for the ophthalmology operating room has already been purchased and transferred from the adult regional clinical hospital to perform complex high-tech surgeries even on the youngest children, including premature infants. All that remains is to create conditions for patient accommodation. The commissioning of the new building is the final stage of systematic work to create a comprehensive children's clinical center. Since 2010, reconstruction and modernization of the central children's polyclinic have been carried out, and a rehabilitation building has been constructed. As a result, the planned capacity of the polyclinic has increased by 25%. An outreach form of consultative and diagnostic assistance to children in rural areas has been organized. The "Raduga" children's rehabilitation and health center has begun to function.

In 2015, for the first time in the republic, 6 children's polyclinics, a children's hospital with 552 beds, and a rehabilitation and health center were integrated into a single complex for providing

medical care for children. The Vitebsk Regional Children's Clinical Center allowed for maximum utilization of personnel and scientific potential, effective use of expensive high-tech equipment, and conducting rehabilitation and recovery. The result of all this, as noted at the opening by the head of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Healthcare Department, Yuri Derkach, was savings of about Br15 billion by the end of 2015.

But the main thing is that the infant mortality rate in the region has halved: from 5 per thousand newborns in 2009 to 2.5 by the end of the first quarter of 2016. Child mortality has decreased by 51.8% compared to 2015 and amounted to 28.6 per 100,000 children. This is the best result among the regions of the country, while the average for Belarus is 36.8.

Ekaterina Knyazeva - BELTA.