Having recently visited the Southern Urals, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko noted positive medical and demographic indicators of the Chelyabinsk region: low infant mortality, success in reducing adult mortality. However, to improve the quality of medical care, it is necessary to introduce new technologies, including expanding the methods of surgical intervention and diagnosis of malignant neoplasms, the minister believes.
The region is consistently moving in this direction. Thus, one of the largest facilities under construction in the healthcare sector is the new surgical building of the Chelyabinsk Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital. The building is planned to be put into operation in 2026. The medical centre is designed for 300 beds, 230 of which are in the surgical department and the rest in the oncohematology profile.
The project, as experts note, has no analogues and has a number of innovative features. A variety of operating theatres will meet the needs of patients with different pathologies. Among the new types of operations are surgical restoration of hearing by implantation, kidney, liver and lung transplantation, and surgical treatment of vascular pathologies. Also relevant are the direction of bone marrow transplantation and the emergence of a full rehabilitation stage. The building will have numerous individual rooms with a minimum area of 20 square meters. Another innovation is a partially usable roof.
The new facility will enable on-site treatment of certain types of illnesses, for which parents previously had to travel with their children to federal centres.
The development of healthcare infrastructure in the region does not only involve building new facilities from scratch, but also actively modernizing existing institutions.
“Construction is going ahead of schedule, we are keeping it under special control,” stresses the head of the region Alexey Teksler, noting that the construction of a multidisciplinary medical center in Magnitogorsk, which will raise the provision of medical services in the second largest city to a higher level, is currently at the development stage.
It should be noted that the development of healthcare infrastructure in the region is not only about building new modern facilities from scratch, but also about actively modernizing existing institutions. Recently, a pediatric orthopedic and traumatology department of the Municipal Hospital No. 2 was opened in the regional center, the area of which was doubled, and the latest diagnostic equipment, including digital X-ray, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, was purchased with funds from the regional budget.
Many medical institutions in the region have already undergone a similar transformation. The Centre for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, one of the most powerful complexes of this type in the Urals, has been modernised to provide radiation therapy to more than 4,200 patients a year. The most modern equipment provides high-precision irradiation: within the framework of the national project “Health Care”, the medical institution was equipped with linear accelerators and the CyberKnife radiosurgical robotic system. And in the regional vascular centre of the Chelyabinsk Regional Clinical Hospital, where more than 3,600 patients are admitted a year, all diagnostic procedures for patients in the cardiac intensive care unit are carried out directly in the rooms of the telemedicine ward, leading specialists report – more than 500 consultations, saving time, which plays a key role in “vascular accidents”.
But the upgrade affected not only the leading clinics in the region: primary care is also in the area of special attention, and we are not just talking about painting the walls, but about a large-scale technological re-equipment. First of all, a modern information system is being created and artificial intelligence is being introduced. For example, in Hospital No. 1 of the city of Chelyabinsk, thanks to this optimization, more than 12 thousand people are examined only as part of the clinical examination.
The changes have already affected the periphery, as exemplified by the modernization of healthcare in the Chebarkul region. Thus, the local hospital has seriously upgraded its material and technical base.
– We have already carried out a major renovation of almost the entire hospital building. Next year we plan to renovate the operating unit. This will be the final step. This will put the hospital in order,” says Alexei Teksler.
Within the framework of the regional programme “Modernisation of primary health care”, new stations for paramedics and midwives were also built in Chebarkul, in the village of Misyash and at the Kisegach junction. In the Chebarkul region, first-aid posts were repaired in the villages of Zauralovo, Temir, Altyntash, Kolotovka, Shchapino, Samarka, Bolotovo and Verkhniye Karasi over the course of three years. The renovation of the outpatient clinic and hospital buildings in the village of Varlamovo and outpatient clinics in the villages of Timiryazevsky and Altyntash has been completed.
However, small towns and villages are provided with staff thanks to regional programmes such as “Doctor Zemsky” and “Paramedic Zemsky”: thanks to them, 316 doctors and 227 mid-level medical workers have been hired in five years. 266 apartments and seven individual houses were purchased from the regional budget.
Medical replenishment also plays an important role in the region’s plans. By 2023, more than 1,330 young specialists and graduates of specialized educational institutions were admitted to medical institutions in the South Urals. The number of places in secondary schools has increased by 750 over four years, 155 more will be added, and more than 10.5 thousand people are studying at the South Ural Medical University. By the way, the university uses the most modern methods, in particular, virtual reality educational technologies, which allow future doctors to immerse themselves in a virtual environment that simulates real situations. The authorities plan to further expand and improve the training system for future doctors.
– The first is the construction of a new interdisciplinary building. Today, each department, each department has its own floor, its own building. We will create a common modern base. The second is a sports hall, a physical education and health complex. We plan that the number of students at SUSMU will absolutely increase; such a base is necessary. The region is ready to participate in this,” the governor said.
