01.04.2021

On April 1, a videoconferencing chaired by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, was held on the ongoing work in the sphere of healthcare and countering coronavirus, as well as priority tasks for the future.

As it is known, on November 12, 2020, the President signed a resolution on the introduction of fundamentally new mechanisms of general medical service institutions and a decree on ensuring public health by further increasing the effectiveness of preventive medicine. In accordance with these documents, a new system of healthcare organization is being introduced based on a revision of methods on early detection, accurate diagnosis and curing diseases.

During the consideration of the implementation of these documents, the President posed three questions to the responsible persons:

- What are the results of the formation of medical records of the regions and the division of the population into at-risk groups in accordance with the new system?   

- How many people have benefited from the creation of medical teams in the context of makhallas (the local neighborhood community areas) and targeted work with the population?

- What services in medical institutions have become free?

It was noted that the current situation does not meet the requirements, the population should feel the changes in the sphere as soon as possible. To accelerate reforms, the Republic of Karakalpakstan and the regions were assigned to the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Health and his deputies.

By another Decree of the President of November 12, a pilot project was implemented in the Syrdarya Region to introduce a new model of healthcare organization and mechanisms of state medical insurance. At the meeting, the head of the Syrdarya Regional Health Department and the khokim (governor) of the city of Gulistan reported on the results of the new system.

It was noted that 421 medical teams were created to fully cover 236 makhallas of the Syrdarya Region. A survey on the population’s health was carried out with a division into four risk groups and an «electronic medical card» of the region was created.  

Thus, in the Bayavut District, 31 thousand residents have no health complaints, but they are at risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and lung diseases due to overweight, unhealthy diet and social habits. Due to examinations, it was also identified that 257 citizens suffer from diseases in a severe stage, since they delayed visiting a doctor, considering themselves healthy.

The President instructed to systematically continue this practice and introduce it in all regions. For this, in villages and makhallas, the medical teams will be organized for targeted examination and treatment of the population, for the formation of «medical records» of the regions.

The need to improve the vertical structure of the republican specialized centers with their assignment to family medical centers was emphasized. That is, the patients should be provided with the opportunity to receive specialized medical care at the place of residence, without having to visit the capital.

Last year, only 51,000 out of 84,000 patients requiring treatment in specialized centers received certificates for free treatment.

The President instructed the Ministry of Finance to increase appropriations for certificates by 1.5 times and allocate an additional 80 billion Uzbek soums.

The Ministry of Health has been instructed to organize the treatment of each patient by the end of this year, together with the khokimiyats (governors’ and mayor’s offices), indicating the exact place and duration of the treatment. More than 3 thousand family doctors undertake the short-term courses in specialized medical centers. 

Another question – today it is not allowed to carry out transplant operations if the donor is not a close relative of the patient. As a result, many of our citizens have to carry out such operations abroad. In this regard, the importance of developing a legal framework in the field of human organ transplantation was emphasized.

In order to expand the coverage of medical services in our country, all legal foundations and opportunities for private medical organizations were created. However, it was noted at the meeting that the work carried out in the regions to create private medical institutions in various areas is insufficient.

For example, there are no private centers that provide the population with services in demand for haemodialysis, medical diagnostics and rehabilitation.

The responsible persons were instructed to increase the number of the public-private partnership projects, provide 170 district and city medical associations with computer tomographic scanners and educate personnel to use them.

The issue of corruption in the sphere was touched upon. Last year, more than 30 billion Uzbek soums were plundered in the healthcare system. In this regard, the instruction was given to establish effective control over the flow of allocated funds, the transparency of the procurement of medicine and medical equipment and the targeted use of takings from paid services.

The issue of personnel was once again discussed at the meeting. Taking into consideration the high demand for medical personnel in remote areas, the «Country Doctor» program was adopted. It is planned to allocate 30 million Uzbek soums for doctors wishing to work in such places, for these purposes 20 billion Uzbek soums have been allocated from the budget. However, after 4 months, not a single contract was concluded. Moreover, today we need 220 doctors in remote areas. In addition, we still lack 10 thousand specialized doctors locally.

Therefore, from the next academic year, it is planned to double the quota for admission to clinical residency training. From now on, the residents will spend half of the educational process at the universities and specialized centers, and the other half at the workplace. The khokims (governors and mayors) of the regions will allocate grants from the local budget for the training of specialized doctors which their region needs.

The President touched upon the situation around the coronavirus pandemic.

- If at the beginning of this year an average of 30-40 patients were identified, then in mid-March this figure was 160-180. The cases of an extremely severe course of the disease, even fatal cases, have been observed. The reason for this is that many citizens took it easy prematurely and became indifferent to the quarantine requirements, such as wearing a medical mask, maintaining social distance, using antiseptics, - Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

 The Prime Minister was instructed to strengthen the work of the territorial headquarters to prevent coronavirus, create call centers and mobile brigades working round the clock. The task was set to prepare at least a three-month supply of medicines and protective equipment, to put into use 60 oxygen stations in the regions, to continuously supply oxygen to the resuscitation departments care and intensive care units.

- Unfortunately, there is no end in sight to this misfortune. The European countries are locking down again. And our neighbors are having an unfavorable situation. The danger is near. Therefore, we must be vigilant. Let us re-establish order in which we have worked earlier. God forbid, so much effort can be in vain. We have set very high economic goals. If we lock down, we will not be able to achieve results. We will not close anything, but we will strengthen the discipline and order. It is necessary to take prompt measures to treat the sick, - the President said.

In April-June, it is planned to vaccinate more than 4 million people from in-risk groups against coronavirus. At the moment, 660 thousand doses of the vaccine have been delivered. The government commission has been instructed to purchase another 3.5 million doses of the Chinese and 1 million doses of the Russian vaccine.

The task was set to constantly inform citizens about the days and places of vaccination at the place of living.

Ministers, khokims and heads of medical institutions provided information on the issues discussed at the meeting.