Excerpts from the transcript:
Meeting of the Presidium of the Government Coordinating Council to control the incidence of the novel coronavirus infection in Russia
Mikhail Mishustin: Good afternoon, colleagues. Let’s begin today’s meeting of the Coordinating Council’s Presidium by discussing the situation with the healthcare system. Some regions are posting a sufficiently large number of COVID-19 cases. Hospitals, outpatient clinics, dispensaries and other related facilities are experiencing more substantial loads. The medical expenses of the Russian Federation’s regions also continue going up. Of course, it was impossible to stipulate the relevant funding in advance within the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund. In June, in an effort to continue planned medical checkups, the Government already set aside 25 billion roubles. Today, we are allocating additional funding that will allow people to obtain timely and full-fledged treatment. We will provide the regions with an extra 85 billion-plus roubles. The President has instructed the Government to do this.
It is important that this funding will make regional healthcare systems more resilient and will make it possible to successfully contain the COVID-19 infection and to maintain current spending for planned medical treatment. In his Address to the Federal Assembly, the President noted the danger of overlooking chronic diseases during peak loads on outpatient clinics and hospitals.
It is impossible to delay visiting doctors week after week. Just like preventive medical checkups, a specialist’s consultation and a timely diagnosis are a safety precaution needed to ensure health and active longevity.
I would like to ask the Ministry of Healthcare to more quickly transfer these assets to the regions. We have to monitor the volumes of medical treatment in the regions. Mr Murashko (addressing Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko), please, control this matter personally. More and more people want to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, and their number has soared almost twofold. Many people already want to sign up for revaccination. This increases the responsibility of the pharmaceutical industry because the life and health of Russian citizens depend on medication production volumes. Rising demand considered, it is important to provide the Russian regions with the required amount of vaccines.
The manufacturers of vaccines should fulfill their obligations, while realising that this is a high-priority matter during the rampant COVID-19 pandemic. They should use all the resources available for producing the required amount of vaccines. Today, we will discuss this topic with the representatives of the main manufacturing companies attending our meeting.
