On April 1, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a videoconference on the ongoing work in healthcare and countering coronavirus, as well as priority tasks for the future.

As is known, on 12 November 2020, the President signed a decree on the introduction of fundamentally new mechanisms in the activities of primary healthcare institutions and a resolution on ensuring public health by further increasing the effectiveness of preventive medicine. Under these documents, a new system of a healthcare organization is being introduced based on a revision of methods of work on early detection, accurate diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

During the consideration of the implementation of these documents, the President asked three questions from responsible persons:

– What did the formation of medical records of the regions and the division of the population into risk groups under the new system show?

– How many people have benefited from the creation of medical teams in the context of mahallas and targeted work with the population?

– What services in medical institutions have become free?

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

By another resolution of the President of November 12, a pilot project was implemented in Syrdarya region to introduce a new model of healthcare organization and mechanisms of state medical insurance. At the meeting, the head of Syrdarya regional health department and the Hokim 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 mahallas of Syrdarya region. A survey of the health of the population was carried out with a division into 4 risk groups, an electronic medical record of the region was created.

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

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

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

Last year, only 51,000 out of 84,000 patients in need of treatment in specialized centers received medical orders for free treatment.

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

The Ministry of Health has been instructed to organize the treatment of each patient by the end of this year, together with the hokimiyats, indicating the exact place and duration of treatment. Specialized medical centers will train more than 3 thousand family doctors in short-term courses.

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

To expand the coverage of medical services in Uzbekistan, all legal foundations and opportunities for private medical organizations have been created. It was noted 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 hemodialysis, medical diagnostics and rehabilitation.

Responsible persons were instructed to increase the number of public-private partnership projects, provide 170 district and city medical associations with computer tomographs, as well as improve the qualifications of personnel in their use.

The issue of corruption in the sphere was considered. Last year, more than 30 billion UZS were embezzled into the healthcare system. In this regard, instruction was given to establish effective control over the movement of allocated funds, the transparency of the procurement of drugs and medical equipment, and the targeted use of proceeds from paid services.

The issue of personnel was discussed at the meeting. Taking into account the high demand for medical workers in remote areas, the Rural Doctor program was adopted. It is planned to allocate 30 million UZS to doctors wishing to work in such places; 20 billion UZS have been allocated from the budget for these purposes. However, after 4 months, no contracts were concluded. Moreover, today 220 doctors are needed in remote areas. Besides, 10 thousand narrow-profile specialists are needed at places.

Therefore, starting next academic year, it is planned to double the quota for admission to clinical residency. From now on, residents will spend half of the educational process at universities and specialized centers, and the other half at the workplace. Hokims of the regions will allocate grants from the local budget for training narrow-profile doctors.

The Head of the state considered the situation related to the coronavirus pandemic.

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

The Prime Minister was instructed to strengthen the activities of the territorial departments to combat coronavirus, create call centers and mobile teams working around the clock. The task was set to form at least a three-month supply of medicines and protective equipment, to put into operation 60 oxygen stations in the regions, to supply uninterrupted oxygen to the intensive care units.

“Unfortunately, there is no end in sight to this problem. European countries go to lockdown again. And the neighbors have an unfavorable situation. The danger is near us. Therefore, we must be vigilant. Let’s restore the order in which we worked earlier. God forbid, so much effort can be in vain. We have set very high economic goals. If we close, we will not be able to achieve results. We will not close anything, but we will strengthen 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 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 their place of residence.

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

UzA