'If there is no prompt assistance, sick children will die': Сhildren's Oncology Centre opens in Kazan
Kazan has obtained the right to perform bone marrow transplantation operations
Tatarstan has become one of the five major regions where the Center for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Surgery for the treatment of Children with Tumors and Leukemias has been put into operation since this year. The main value is that Kazan will get the right to perform bone marrow transplantation operations, which means that state quotas for children who usually have to stand in line. Deputy Minister of Healthcare of Russia Oleg Gridnev and President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov attended the opening ceremony. However, the Kazan centre aroused the greatest interest among the leading pediatric oncologists, who are still very few in the country.
Kazan has become the first of five cities to open a children's oncology centre
A delegation of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia arrived in Kazan on 18 June, which assessed the state of the regional healthcare system and took part in the award ceremony for the best doctors of the republic. However, Minister of Healthcare Mikhail Murashko could not come personally. Instead, the “guest mission” was performed by Deputy Minister Oleg Gridnev. Immediately upon arrival, he went to the opening of the new medical institution of the republic — the Centre for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Surgery, built on the basis of the Children's Republican Clinical Hospital.
Kazan is among the five Russian cities (also Voronezh, Krasnodar, Rostov, Ufa) where centres aimed at improving the quality and accessibility of medical care for children suffering from cancer are to appear. The centre was built within the framework of the national project Healthcare and the regional project Development of Children's Healthcare of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Tatinvestgrazhdanproekt SUE acted as the developer of the project documentation of the centre. Bespoke architect bureau is the developer of facades and interior concepts.
According to Deputy Minister of Construction Ilshat Gimayev, the building is designed for 100 beds, and its total area is 17,000 square metres. It has 25 beds — for two oncology departments, 20 beds — for the Department of Hematology and Immunology, 7 beds — for bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, for resuscitation. Besides, 16 places were provided in the day hospital of the hospital. The centre has a whole laboratory complex, blood transfusion and radiation diagnostics departments.
The total cost is 2,2 billion rubles, of which 1,2 billion is from the federal budget. The children's oncology centre was built in almost a year, said Gimaev. Now there are such centres in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg, but the number of children in need of assistance is increasing.
Tatinvestgrazhdanproekt SUE acted as the developer of the project documentation of the centre. Bespoke architect bureau is the developer of facades and interior concepts.
Bone marrow transplant operations will be performed in home region
Kazan will have the opportunity to receive not only Tatarstan patients, but also in the future children from all over the Volga Federal District, Oleg Gridnev told reporters. According to him, the opening of the centre on the basis of the Children's Republican Clinical Hospital makes it possible to attract specialists from other fields of medicine and provide comprehensive medical care to children.
“The main value of the centre is a comprehensive approach. It will be used not only for bone marrow transplantation operations. It is planned to perform complex surgical interventions, radiation therapy," said Gridnev.
However, for the time being, Tatarstan doctors will have to undergo additional training and retraining. “Without high-level specialists, the walls 'do not work'. Now a team of oncologists has been determined, and a training schedule has been drawn up. These doctors need to be trained. I am glad that a team of specialists has been formed here," the deputy minister said.
Of course, the opening of such a centre by definition could not be noisy and festive: after all, it is located on the territory of the hospital, where thousands of children are being treated. Therefore, we tried not to stretch the opening ceremony in time. In his welcoming speech, President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov expressed confidence that the centre would allow us to solve many problems related to the health of our children.
Obtaining the right to perform bone marrow transplantation operations means that Kazan will receive quotas for the treatment of children who usually have to wait, oncologists explain. So far, only a few centres in the country receive quotas, and the largest of them is the Dmitry Rogachev National Medical Research Centre for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology (over 400 beds).
“Now we send children from the regions to the Rogachev centre and others," explained Gridnev. “And when such centres develop in other subjects, these flows of children will remain here, in place. It is comfortable for parents and children.”
At the same time, all patients will be under the patronage of the Federal Rogachev Centre, which will conduct consultations and training of personnel, he said.
16 children out of 100k get cancer in Russia
According to the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia, annually oncological diseases are detected in about 16 children out of 100,000, and oncology is the second leading cause of death among children (in adults — the third). Most often, cancer is diagnosed in preschoolers and adolescents. Quotas for high-tech medical care, which also includes bone marrow transplantation, are not enough for everyone, as it is difficult to predict the dynamics of identifying patients, doctors explain. With the advent of regional centres, there are more quotas, but there are still waiting lists.
“The waiting list is an artificial concept, there is no such thing that a child with cancre is left [without assistance]," Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, pediatric surgeon of the Scientific and Practical Centre of Specialised Medical Care for Children named after V. F. Voino-Yasenetsky at the Department of Healthcare of Moscow Timur Sharoev explained to Realnoe Vremya. “There may be waiting lists for consultation, to specific specialists. Of course, parents believe that the world should revolve around their child. And it is right. Oncology is always an emergency. If there is no immediate assistance, sick children will die," he explained.
According to him, now the progress in cancer treatment is staggering
“We have innovative technologies that are not available even in large hospitals. These are plasma surgery, high-frequency ablation for liver and kidney tumors in children, and operations using water jet surgery. I think that all this will be here, otherwise why building it all and turning it into a district hospital. You have an endosurgery centre, where my specialists also come for training, so the prospects are high here.”
