Vitebsk celebrated the 100th anniversary of the city's pediatric service
The pediatric service has gone through a difficult path of development since its foundation. The festive event began with a story about the history of its development, showing archival photographs and videos.
– A century later, from small hospitals and outpatient clinics, we have reached a point where today the Vitebsk Regional Children's Clinical Center provides all types of medical care to children from 0 to 18 years old, we have many new departments, and we acquire new equipment and implement modern technologies annually, – noted the chief physician of the healthcare institution, Galina Puzanova. – This year alone, we have received 12 new ventilators, 2 ultrasound machines, high-class X-ray machines, and much more.
Today, more than 1800 specialists work at the Vitebsk Regional Children's Clinical Center, and many honored guests came to congratulate the best among them.
The Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies, Vladimir Terentyev, read out a congratulatory address from the deputy corps and the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee:
“Dear friends! We sincerely congratulate the staff of the healthcare institution "Vitebsk Regional Children's Clinical Center" on the centenary of its founding.
The anniversary of the children's center is a significant event for the entire region, representing a hundred years of dedicated work by doctors, nurses, and junior staff of the entire pediatric service. Your profession demands high competencies and is one of the most responsible – it is a selfless labor where there is no room for error. Thanks to the professionalism of medical workers, their care, and attention, thousands of children's lives have been saved, and families have found hope and happiness.
The modern achievements of the service are based on the contributions of many generations of medical workers. Their experience is invaluable, and their love for their chosen profession inspires young specialists. Dear veterans, sparing no effort, disregarding weekends and holidays, you came to the aid of children, overcoming the difficulties of establishment. You have laid a solid foundation for the stable development of regional pediatrics and are the guardians of its best traditions. We wish you robust health for many years to come.
Today, the residents of the Vitebsk region have a multifunctional, well-equipped children's clinical center, which includes more than 50 medical, diagnostic, and specialized departments, and the "Raduga" rehabilitation and wellness center. The center serves as a clinical base for the Vitebsk Medical University and Medical College. Thank you immensely for your work, for the smiles and laughter of children to whom you give your love and care. We wish you health, happiness, optimism, a wonderful mood, interesting and fruitful work, and professional success!
Mikhail Vishnevetsky, Head of the Main Department of Healthcare of the Regional Executive Committee, read out the congratulatory address from Dmitry Pinevich, Minister of Health of the Republic of Belarus:
“Dear employees of the Vitebsk Regional Children's Clinical Center! I sincerely congratulate you on the centenary of pediatric services in the city of Vitebsk! Over these years, a unique path has been traversed from a modest children's outpatient clinic and separate children's beds in various hospitals to a modern healthcare institution providing all types of pediatric care at the highest level. Your professionalism, dedication, responsibility, commitment to your chosen profession, and kind human qualities deserve immense gratitude. You are always at the forefront of the fight for children's health, rushing to help, and in difficult moments, you are there for those who vitally need it.
Special gratitude is extended to all who participated in the establishment of the institution, its revival in the post-war years, who enriched the glorious traditions of the team and today continue to actively mentor, passing on their invaluable knowledge and life experience to the younger generation.
I am confident that thanks to your high competence, constant striving to improve the accessibility, quality, and culture of medical care, you will continue to make a significant contribution to preserving and strengthening the health of the Belarusian nation and increasing the human capital of our country. I wish you all inexhaustible strength, patience, new labor achievements, and success for the further development and prosperity of our beloved Belarus.
Strong health, happiness, peace, and goodness to you and your families and loved ones!”.
Specialists were also congratulated by representatives of the city authorities, the regional trade union association, the Vitebsk Medical University, and others.
Approximately 50 specialists received Certificates of Honor and letters of gratitude from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus, the regional executive committee, the city executive committee, the regional trade union association, and other organizations.
Studying the history of the creation of pediatric services allows us to trace not only the improvement in the quality of medicine, and as a consequence, the reduction in child mortality, but also changes in the attitude towards women in society, demographics, and a host of other interesting facts.
For the first time, children's inpatient and outpatient facilities were separated from general medicine in 1922. From that moment on, pediatrics began to develop as an independent branch of healthcare in the Vitebsk region. More and more inpatient facilities, outpatient clinics, and hospitals began to be designated as children's facilities, and a few years later, due to an increase in the birth rate, the need arose to create a new hospital, as the other specialized medical institutions were overcrowded. It was only in 1940 that a new children's hospital was built in Vitebsk, located on the site of the current emergency hospital, with 150 beds. Unfortunately, the building was destroyed during the Great Patriotic War.
After the liberation of Vitebsk from the Nazi invaders, the children's hospital reopened in December 1944, and the construction of a new one, with 180 beds, was completed in 1966. In February 1976, it received the status of a regional hospital.
A new stage in the history of pediatric services began on January 1, 2015, through the merger of the regional children's clinical hospital and children's polyclinic with five branches, and the "Raduga" rehabilitation and health center in the Liozno district. The regional children's clinical center was established as the flagship of today's pediatric service in the Vitebsk region.
