Transferring hospital bed inventory from federal clinics to the regions; allocating funds to equip them; extending the special procedure for issuing sick leave certificates; organising a centralised system for collecting and analysing diagnostic and testing data, the number of hospital beds made available in the regions and equipment being provided to medical facilities.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
Meeting of the Presidium of the Government Coordination Council to control the incidence of novel coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation
The President has just held a meeting on the healthcare system’s preparations to accept patients with the coronavirus and those suspected of having the infection. Vladimir Putin took part, via video link, in launching two medical facilities that will treat coronavirus patients. One was an infectious diseases hospital in Moscow and the other was a Defence Ministry integrated medical centre in Nizhny Novgorod. They are modern hospitals that were built virtually within a matter of weeks. This is a good example of fast-paced and well-coordinated work. We must continue to create new inventory to be ready for any developments. All bed capacity – those at hand and new ones – must have the necessary equipment, and the units and hospitals must be staffed with key specialists to ensure that patients are given qualified medical care. This is what the President has instructed us to do.
Today I signed Government directives to transfer federal clinic bed equipment to the regions that have designated medical facilities to accept coronavirus patients. The country has over 60 such clinics. An additional 45,000 beds will be introduced there. We allocated about 36 billion roubles to the regions and federal executive bodies to equip and re-equip these clinics. I ask the heads of the regions, ministries and agencies to see that the funds reach the proper locations as soon as possible and also to monitor that they are used as designated.
I also instruct the Ministry of Healthcare to continuously monitor bed availability in the regions and to forward update reports to the Government once a week.
It is crucial that medical facilities be within easy reach. To ensure this, the roads to these medical facilities must be quickly repaired or even built anew. At a meeting with plenipotentiary envoys to the federal districts, the President gave instruction to gauge the possibility of regional hospitals to accept patients from other regions, including the provision of medical crews and ambulances to transport them. It is also important to have good roads for that.
Over 800 roads leading to medical facilities are included in the upgrading programmes under the Safe and High-Quality Roads national project. Some of them have already been repaired. It is extremely important to finish this work in the shortest possible timeframe. Roads to medical facilities are a priority now. Roadways and pedestrian crossings must be conditioned, traffic lights, guardrails and road markings installed. This is an issue in Crimea, Stavropol and Khabarovsk territories, and in Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Kostroma and a number of other regions. It is important to give special care to the builders who work on those roads, to ensure their safety and hold regular medical checks.
A resolution was signed today that extends the special procedure for issuing sick leave certificates related to quarantine for working pensioners. It will be valid through 30 April. During this time, a sick leave certificate can be issued remotely.
Employers are required to submit lists of employees who are entitled to these sick leave certificates to the Social Insurance Fund. About 2 million people will receive payments based on these sick leaves. Over 21 billion roubles will be allocated for this purpose from the Social Insurance Fund.
These measures will help provide older working citizens with financial and social support during self-isolation.
Colleagues, it is especially important for us to receive prompt and complete information on the coronavirus now, especially data on the diagnosis and testing of citizens for the timely detection of cases, on the number of beds that the regions are creating in their hospitals, and on availability of equipment at medical institutions to treat patients. This information will allow us to respond to the changing situation promptly and direct resources to where they are needed the most.
I am instructing the Ministry of Healthcare and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to oversee the collection and analysis of such data starting today. A single information centre for monitoring the coronavirus situation will be used for this. Report forms have been developed and approved.
The summary data and the results of their analysis must be submitted to the Government twice a week. I would ask Dmitry Chernyshenko to take this under his personal control.
Let’s get to work.
