Mikhail Mishustin: “The Government is expanding the list of essential and vital medications. It will include the existing anti-coronavirus vaccines regardless of their names. They must be accessible to all those who need to be vaccinated.”
Meeting of the Government Coordination Council on controlling the incidence of novel coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
The shortage of ambulances in the regions was mentioned when we discussed measures to counter the coronavirus infection at the meeting with the President last week. Earlier, the Government transferred 10 billion roubles for additional purchases of these vehicles. A government resolution was signed today to allocate another almost 240 million roubles for the purchase of about 60 ambulances for the Krasnodar Territory. We will allocate the funds for this purpose to other regions as well. The regions must be fully provided with ambulance transport. The ministries are already working on the related decisions.
I will soon sign a resolution on using next year’s federal funding this year, which will allow the regions to promptly buy additional ambulances for transporting patients and doctors’ visits to them.
In the current complicated situation it is particularly important for people to get the necessary medications on time and without problems. They must have access to these medications as soon as possible to keep them from neglecting the disease. This is necessary for countering the coronavirus but also many other serious illnesses. The Government is expanding the list of essential and vital medications. It will include the existing anti-coronavirus vaccines regardless of their names. They must be accessible to all those who need to be vaccinated. They must be accessible to all those who need to be vaccinated.
In addition, starting next year, we will add another 25 medications to the list of essential and vital medications, including four from the list of high-cost nosologies. Many of them are quite expensive, but patients need them. Adding the new items to the list will increase the availability of essential medications and help maintain people’s health.
In addition, the Government has simplified the procedure for registering medical items that are classified as innovative software products, including those using AI technology. We are talking about software for devices and products that are used in diagnosing cancer and surgery for monitoring elderly patients or rehabilitation. A resolution has been drafted that establishes an expedited one-step procedure for registering these software products for medical items. This will make it possible to quickly apply innovative developments in medical treatment.
The situation with the spread of the coronavirus infection remains challenging. So, building new all-purpose medical centres is another important part of our work. They are being built fast, almost around the clock, by military personnel and civilian specialists from the Defence Ministry literally throughout the country. In all, more than 20 such centres were built this year which will make it possible not only to promptly provide medical help to patients with the coronavirus, but also to improve the overall level of medical care in the regions.
Two such medical centres opened in the Pskov Region in mid-September. Also, the region needs to create a children’s centre for treating infectious diseases. The President supported this proposal, and the Government allocated over 870 million roubles for the construction of an all-purpose children’s medical centre with 60 beds.
In addition, we will allocate over 1.8 billion roubles for the construction of two medical centres in the Astrakhan Region, 100 beds each.
Please note, that in every case, the region gets not just a building with the necessary infrastructure, but all the equipment that is necessary for treating patients, including high-tech devices.
We expect the Defence Ministry to build these centres as quickly as before.
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