Rybnitsa and Kamenka Districts, 12 July. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Tsurkan, together with an expert group, completed an inspection of all medical facilities in the country. Today they have visited paramedic-outpatient centres (POCs), rural medical outpatient clinics (MOCs), as well as other health facilities of the districts.
Rural modernisation in action
The delegation was surprised to see the building of the POC in the village of Mokra. This new, beautiful and modern building was erected in just three weeks and put into operation last October.
It has four convenient rooms where a local paramedic and other specialists can receive patients. So, once a month villagers can visit a therapist, a surgeon, an obstetrician, a paediatrician and a number of other doctors. The POC covers over 1,000 people.
As the chief economist of the Rybnitsa Hospital told our correspondent, such facilities are supposed to establish in the villages which have no appropriate premises. If the building has completely deteriorated, it is cheaper to build a new one than to repair the old building.
"The new POC is equipped with all necessary: there is water supply, electricity, an electric boiler. It is possible to install a gas boiler. It is warm in the winter - the walls are sandwich panels with heat insulation between them. At a temperature of 10 -12 degrees it is comfortable inside. In the summer it's not hot," the expert noted.
He also said that the construction of a medical facility, which cost $ 10,000, was financed by a local farmer. But he has not rested on his oars. The same person is financing the repair of a MOC in the village of Voronkovo, where only the first floor functions in a two-story building.
"It is supposed that after the repair the entire second floor will be used as daycare hospital," the chief physician of the MOC Leonid Padurets said, noting that the institution also has serious problems with the floor, or rather, its partial absence.
The repairs will cost approximately $10,000.
Immediate intervention required
Not all FOCs and MOCs are in a similar situation though... So, the medical institution of Zhura village is located in the former stables. This is why its rooms are tiny, but this is not the biggest problem. The MOC, which covers more than 3,000 people (three villages), needs an urgent replacement of the roof.
Another POC is located in Stanislavka. Its paramedic - the wonderful worker Vera Kobylyuk - was supposed to retire 12 years ago. But she cannot do so because there is nobody to replace her.
"I have no one to whom I can leave my post. Besides, we do not have a water supply. We fetch water from a well. We also need at least some furniture. The last time it was updated in 1971 by my deceased spouse, who made it himself," Kobylyuk said, noting that this year the state administration promised to replace all the windows of the POC.
The POC of Lenino village occupies a building of the former private household. "The main problem is that the building is made of sun-dried bricks; it suffers from moisture. In this regard, the house is permanently damp; the wall began to come off in the corridor," said Vladimir Ivaschenko, the head doctor of Rybnitsa Central Hospital, explaining that this POC and identical medical facilities in the villages of Broshtyany, Ivanovka and Vasilyevka are in the same critical condition. He expressed hope that new premises will be built from sandwich panels following Mokra's example.
In his turn, Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Tsurkan noted that the government would study the possibility of producing such premises in Pridnestrovie.
"At the moment we are studying the possibility of building such POCs in terms of producing construction materials fro them in Pridnestrovie in order not to bring these panels from abroad," said Tsurkan.
Kamenka District is faced with similar problems. [...] There is no one to replace them in rural FOCs and MOCs. And a local polyclinic lacks therapists, emergency room doctors, urologists.
The outpatient clinic in the village of Kuzmin is one of the most problematic health facilities in the district. It was built in 1937. It has no gas and water supply, as well as central heating. The local authorities have found a solution: to transfer the MOC to a local school. The proposal is supported by the villagers. Under the program of capital investments, part of the school's premises will be reconstructed and designed for an outpatient clinic. It will have been completed by September. Tsurkan decides on the spot to go and examine the school. By the way, the hero of the USSR, machine-gunner Ivan Soltys graduated from it. Accompanied by the minister of health, representatives of local authorities and the management of the district polyclinic network, Alexey Tsurkan saw over the future location of the MOC.
In general, many medical institutions of Kamenka District serve several villages at once. Most of the problems concern the water supply system. Many POCs and MOCs require the replacement of water pipes; some of them have no water supply at all. The outdated sewer system is extremely alarming.
After examining the medical institutions of Kamenka District, Tsurkan noted that the country's overall situation is close to critical.
"To date, the Ministry of Healthcare, in fact, has already systematized information on each POC and MOC, on what resources are needed to restore and repair these facilities. And we will further prioritize [...] in order to really demonstrate to our citizens in two or three years that the situation will be changing for the better," Tsurkan concluded.
