OREANDA-NEWS. July 29, 2010. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin noted that the budget for healthcare will be “very impressive” in the next three years. “Healthcare spending must go up next year,” he said.

During the meeting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Minister of Healthcare and Social Development Tatyana Golikova discussed the demographic situation in the country in the first half of this year. Ms Golikova said that there was natural population growth in 23 regions, which speaks to the effectiveness of the National Health Project and demographic policy.

Mr Putin announced that he has signed a government resolution allocating additional funds for the development of seven major medical institutions in Moscow, St Petersburg and Novosibirsk. Ms Golikova noted that investments in the healthcare system have helped substantially improve demographic indicators. She said this investment is primarily directed at introducing innovations in medicine.

Mr Putin emphasised that the budget for healthcare will be "very impressive" in the coming years.

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Ms Golikova, I'd like to discuss with you the demographic situation in the country in the first half of this year. You have the latest information on this. As you know, today I signed a government resolution allocating additional funds for the development of seven major medical institutions in three cities - Moscow, St Petersburg and Novosibirsk. These institutions are making a substantial contribution to the improvement of the demographic situation. How do you plan to fund these institutions? We have provided for 39.8 billion roubles in funding up till 2014.

Tatyana Golikova: Mr Putin, as you instructed, we have been monitoring birth and death rates, causes of death and the effect of these indicators on the demographic situation in the country together with Rosstat (the Federal State Statistics Service) on a monthly basis. A total of 157,800 babies were born last June, which is 8,500 babies, or 5.7%, more than during the same month last year. I'm pleased to say that 868,800 babies were born from January through June of this year, which is 19,600 babies more than in the same period last year.

The death rate has gone down. The number of people who died from January through June fell by 18,100. In that same period this year the natural population loss was 142,200 people, which is 20.9% less than in the same period last year.

Vladimir Putin: 20%. Good.

Tatyana Golikova: These are very impressive figures. The infant mortality rate has fallen by 4.1% compared with the same period last year. Moreover, 23 regions (as opposed to 20 regions last year) have registered natural population growth. Cities that traditionally had natural population loss, for instance Moscow, are now demonstrating natural population growth, which also speaks to the effectiveness of the National Health Project and demographic policy.

We are also monitoring key causes of death. The death rate from traffic accidents has fallen by 11%, cardiovascular diseases - by 2% (by 4.7% from strokes and by 0.2% from ischemic heart disease). The death rate from cancer and TB is also on the decline - by 0.7% and 9.1%, respectively.

You made a very important point - it is already clear that the investments we are making in healthcare and which we agreed upon even before finishing work on the budget are substantially improving the figures that I've just mentioned.

These seven institutions affected by the decision...

Vladimir Putin: Specialising in cardiology, obstetrics and gynecology...

Tatyana Golikova: These include the Kulakov Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Moscow, the Meshalkin Institute of Cardio-Vascular Surgery in Novosibirsk, the Priorov Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedics in Moscow, the Institute of Transplantology in Moscow, the Institute of Endocrinology, also in Moscow, and the Almazov and Polenov institutes in St Petersburg.

All these fields - cardio-vascular surgery, brain surgery, traumatology and orthopaedics - are related to the problems we typically discuss when we talk about demographic policy in Russia.

In 2009, 51,500 people received treatment in these seven institutes, including almost 26,000 people who received high-tech medical care. These centres alone accounted for over 10% of all high-tech treatments.

The 40 billion rouble investment in individual centres for 2012, 2013 and 2014, which you've mentioned, will primarily be used to finance the latest developments and innovative technologies in the field of medicine.

I'd like to make a special mention of our leading Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Moscow. It receives about 69% of women from other regions. In other words, it is geared toward treating women not just in Moscow and the Moscow Region but in the Russian Federation as a whole.

The institute applies very important, new technologies in neonatal and perinatal surgery and perinatal diagnostics, as well as in the treatment it provides to babies and expectant mothers experiencing complications.

Such a high percentage of women are sent to this institute because its specialists know how to treat women with complications and babies with low and very low birth weights.

This institute will become even more important considering that in 2012 we will switch to new birthing criteria and will have to treat babies with low and very low birth weights. It has the technology and the specialists to train and retrain doctors from other regions.

I'd like to mention that 2,010 babies were born in this centre in 2009. This is a fairly decent figure compared to the figures I mentioned before.

Vladimir Putin: Now let's turn our attention to drafting the budget for the next three years. The healthcare section of the budget must have very impressive numbers. Healthcare spending must go up next year.

Let's discuss this in more detail now.