Official website of the President of Russia

Документ   /

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,

Let us start working.

During the past few months, we have enhanced the capabilities of our healthcare system, as everyone can see very well. Last week, a new pharmaceutical facility opened, and several other similar events had been held before that. As for the pharmaceutical facility, whose work will make the most in-demand, high-quality, domestically produced medications more affordable, it is a vital part of our efforts to create conditions for combating the coronavirus infection.

Today we are opening another four multifunctional medical centres built by the Defence Ministry for coronavirus patients. Two of them will work in the Astrakhan Region, and the other two in Pskov and Severomorsk. The one in Pskov is the first specialised children’s centre. I would like to add that a medical centre will open in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk later this month.

Just as planned, the Astrakhan and Pskov centres will be turned over to the regions. The Severomorsk centre and the one in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, when it opens, will remain the property of the Defence Ministry but will also provide assistance to the civilian population, which I would like to emphasise.

These new facilities have the best modern equipment and will have highly skilled doctors and other medical professionals. This will allow them to take care of coronavirus patients.

Both military builders and civilian specialists have done an excellent job. All facilities have been built well, with good quality and on time. The construction site was practically busy round the clock – both day and night. The builders used cutting-edge design and engineering solutions, the latest technology and the newest materials.

Our army has again shown by deed that it is ready to help without delay at a difficult time. In all, during this challenging year, military builders from the Defence Ministry will have built 30 centres for coronavirus patients in a very short span of time. They are being built in the regions that were the hardest hit by the epidemic, where people are waiting for help, where extra beds, modern equipment, medications and, of course, qualified medical workers are needed.

The centres built by the Defence Ministry have become an important part of the regional healthcare systems. They play a big role at all stages of countering the coronavirus epidemic. These medical centres have a total bed capacity of over 3,000, or, to be precise, 3,165 beds, including about 370 ICU beds.

In more than half a year, about 13,000 coronavirus patients underwent treatment at the Defence Ministry’s centres. Out of this total, over 8,000 were military personnel and more than 4,000 were civilians, the civilian population.

 I would like to thank all those who took part in building these multifunctional medical centres. I would like to thank you, colleagues, friends and comrades, for your responsible approach to the situation, and medical workers, for their selfless efforts to counter the pandemic. I have said this many times and we always repeat it, which is the right thing to do: we will overcome this together by all means.

I wish success to the doctors, nurses and all medical personnel at the new and already functioning medical centres. I hope you will continue working in the future the way you have done up to this day.

<…>