Official website of the President of Russia

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Dmitry Medvedev: Dear friends, it is a great pleasure for me to continue with tradition and, on the eve of Medical Workers’ Day, to take part in paying tribute to Russia’s best doctors. I am happy to be here with you and take part in this ceremony.

Frankly speaking, this has become a very good tradition for me too. I hope that even though today is Friday the 13th everything will go well today.

I would like to congratulate from all my heart the recipients of these well-deserved awards on the recognition they are receiving here. And I would like to congratulate all medical workers on their professional holiday tomorrow.

No one can overestimate the responsibility and unique mission that doctors have. No one can overestimate its importance for the lives of each and every one of us and for the development of our country and our society as a whole.

It is said that being a doctor, like a being teacher, is a God-given vocation. Gathered here today are the most talented, professional and selfless people, doctors who work miracles in the full sense of the word.

It is my conviction that the best doctors should become the true heroes of our times and receive the respect and recognition of our society and people. After all, without a fully developed, normal, affordable and good quality healthcare system we can make no progress nor can we ensure full personal development.

This is why the state authorities have begun paying much greater attention to healthcare over the last years, and have launched a special priority project in this area.

This project emphasized primary healthcare, as you know, maternity and children’s healthcare, the spread of advanced technology in the sector and putting in place decent conditions in general for specialists.

This is just the beginning. Our task today, based on the priorities we have set, is now to modernize the healthcare sector in general. We have all the possibilities we need for this today. Today more than ever, perhaps. This is of the utmost importance for us to be able to start our work in full. You can have no doubt that we will undertake this modernization steadily, without haste, firmly and systematically in order to make our healthcare system a full-fledged European system.

Once more, I want to congratulate the recipients of the ‘Vocation’ prize and say thank you to you for your noble labour, your selfless spirit and all that you do.

Thank you very much.

I wish you health and all the very best!