Spot insufficiency: Putin was told about the shortage of prosthetists
A network of high-quality prosthetics and rehabilitation centers will be expanded in Russia's regions, and a program for training personnel in this area will be developed. Vladimir Putin gave a corresponding instruction to the government on December 3 at a meeting with servicemen - participants of the SSO. According to Deputy Defense Minister Anna Tsivilyova, 10 prosthetists are needed for 1 million population, but now there are less than 1 thousand of them in the Russian Federation. The need for such specialists is increasing in view of the combat operations - in the course of combat operations soldiers receive a significant number of mine-explosive wounds.
Visiting prosthetics centers
On the International Day of the Disabled, which is celebrated annually on December 3, Vladimir Putin visited two medical institutions in Moscow: the Shvetsova Scientific and Practical Center for Medical and Social Rehabilitation of the Disabled and the Center for Innovative Technologies in Orthopedics (CITO). Servicemen who were injured in the SSO zone are being rehabilitated there today.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting the Center for Innovative Technologies in Orthopedics (CITO).
A year ago the President called CITO one of the leaders of the medical and rehabilitation industry in the Russian Federation, and now he is personally convinced of it. He toured the upper and lower limbs prosthesis production center: the prosthesis assembly area, kinesiotherapy and gait diagnostics room. He was shown fitting rooms where prostheses are "adjusted" to the size of specific patients. During his visit to CITO Vladimir Putin talked to servicemen - participants of the military service, who undergo treatment and rehabilitation in the medical complex.
- The main thing is that all these structures allow you to live a full life, the way you lived before this injury. And that it does not prevent you from realizing those plans that you had before and that you have now, both in service - for those who are going to continue to serve - and in civilian life. The state should do everything to ensure that these plans of yours are realized. And one of my most important personal tasks is to make you feel on top of your game," Vladimir Putin addressed the soldiers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin communicates with servicemen
One of the participants of the meeting, junior lieutenant Mikhail, told Izvestia that he was wounded in the South Donetsk region. He was sent to the Central Institute for prosthetics in May 2024.
- In January they were on their way from a mission. When the position was not so far away, maybe two hundred meters, a mine landed. He was walking with his comrades, and his comrades were also seriously wounded. I fell down, my comrades ran up and helped me to bandage myself. They were waiting for us with evacuation. At first I was worried, the first operation was in Rostov. There were quite a lot of operations here, I was in hospital for a very long time," he said.
Personnel prospects for the soldiers of the North Caucasus Military District
The servicemen were clearly encouraged by the conversation with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, frankly expressed their requests and shared their difficulties. Many of them were concerned about their professional prospects, so they were interested in the new personnel program for veterans and participants of the Strategic Military District "Time of Heroes". Its goal is to train highly qualified managers from current and former military personnel for subsequent work in government agencies and large companies. More than 10 thousand applications have already been received since the start of registration for selection to the second stream of the program.
The President specified that the conditions for participation in the contest are as simple as possible for servicemen. It is enough to send an application by mail or via the Internet, then there is testing and selection. If a soldier is on the front line by the time of selection, he will be taken to the second line and a selection team will visit him.
- In the first stream of 83 people - guys worthy, Heroes of Russia, awarded with the Order of Courage. They are doing very well, the program continues," the President said.
In addition, a separate direction will be created for those fighters of the Army who want to get education, Vladimir Putin added.
- We are doing everything so that those who have such an ambition, inner need, to get this education, some skills, to create special directions. And we will help children to enter the appropriate educational institutions, - said the President.
Lack of rehabilitation centers in the regions
Participants of the rehabilitation program told Vladimir Putin about the lack of multifunctional prosthetics centers in the regions. According to them, they often have to go to Moscow to change their prosthetics.
- It is inconvenient to travel," the President agreed.
Now, according to the head of state's estimates, 240 companies and thousands of specialists work in this sphere, but it is not enough. The President assured that the authorities will deal with the issue of training the necessary specialists and will replicate the best practices throughout the country. Vladimir Putin instructed Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova to expand the network of prosthetics and rehabilitation centers in the regions and to present a program for training the necessary personnel.
Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova
- We have an addition to what you have said. There are 46 hospitals for complex prosthetics. Perhaps now we should emphasize them from the point of view of the requirements of children and develop them further," Tatyana Golikova said.
- 46 is not enough, nothing at all. What is he, from Sakhalin, how can he get there? It is necessary to have more, wider territories. We need a program, present your vision of how it should be spatially distributed and created in the territories," the President responded.
An important problem is the lack of prosthetists. That is why quality assistance or help in training a person to move with a prosthesis cannot always be provided, Mikhail Terentyev, chairman of the All-Russian Society of the Disabled, Paralympic champion, State Duma deputy, told Izvestia. And the main problems faced by people with disabilities today are primarily related to the provision of technical rehabilitation equipment.
- Despite the fact that sufficient funds are allocated at the federal and regional levels, there are often some failures related to the timely receipt of technical rehabilitation equipment and its quality. And here there is a large field for work together with the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Health. I know that there are plans to extend the strategy for the development of the rehabilitation industry, and we will probably see some innovations related to quality improvement," he told Izvestia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting the Center for Innovative Technologies in Orthopedics (CITO).
Anna Tsivileva, State Secretary - Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, also told the President about the deficit of prosthetists in the country. According to her, 10 prosthetists are needed for 1 million people, while in Russia there are less than 1,000 prosthetists now. The Deputy Minister emphasized that the need for high-level prosthetists is aggravated by the course of combat operations in the zone of the Northern Military District.
- Now the nature of combat operations is such that there are a lot of mine-explosive wounds. Just with amputations. 77% are amputations of lower limbs, 17% are amputations of upper limbs, 6% are combined amputations, which are the most severe and require a delicate approach and high-level specialists," she said.
The sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation - ban on supplies of foreign equipment for rehabilitation - also played their role, Mikhail Terentyev noted. CITO is able to provide implantable medical devices for traumatology and orthopedics about one third of the Russian market demand. From May 2022 to the present day, more than 5 thousand upper and lower limb prostheses have been manufactured. Over the last five years, production growth has amounted to 270%.
Over the past 20 years, Russia has taken a step forward in the field of equal opportunities through the creation of a barrier-free environment, an expert from the People's Front told Izvestia. Analitika" Valentin Eliseenko.
- In recent years, the accessibility of infrastructure facilities for people with disabilities has significantly improved, but a number of problems remain relevant. This is the lack of adaptations for boarding public transportation, anti-slip pads on steps, ramps in places where it is necessary, traffic lights with audible signals. Some of this infrastructure, of course, is available in large metropolitan areas, but people with limited mobility live all over Russia, not only in large cities, - he said.
Development of the Paralympic movement
In the conversations between the fighters and Vladimir Putin, the topic of the development of adaptive sports was touched upon. One of the interlocutors told the president that after being wounded he started weightlifting and powerlifting and at a weight of 86 kg he lifts 150 kg in the bench press. "I doubt that Ilya Muromets lifted so much," Vladimir Putin noted with a laugh. - He was a healthy bogatyr, but it is unlikely that he could lift 150 kg.
Russian President Vladimir Putin talks to a serviceman
- I used to run, but now I can't run. I requalified for strength training, for powerlifting. And they already want to include me in the list of the Russian national team, literally in nine months," Senior Lieutenant Ilya Starovoit told Izvestia.
The head of state promised to discuss with Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and the Ministry of Sport the inclusion of competitions for veterans of the Army in the unified calendar plan of sports events, so that they would be held not at the amateur, but at the state level, all over the country. In Vladimir Putin's opinion, people who have been injured should feel full, keep active and achieve sports results.
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