Penza, 23 February 2015. PenzaNews. Vyacheslav Kosmachev, chief medical officer of the Penza city Zakharyin clinical emergency hospital, deputy of the regional Legislative Assembly, member of the regional headquarters of the All-Russia People’s Front (APF), gave his comment for PenzaNews agency after a report on the dilapidated state of the purulent surgery department, and outlined the possible period of repairs.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

“When I came to head the hospital in 2007, I immediately wrote down planning and cost estimate documentation for repairs in all departments, including the purulent surgery department. All repairs in the hospital were based on this very planning and cost estimate documentation. However, since there wasn’t enough money, the repairs were made in several parts, based on certain priorities. The modernization program focused on prioritizing repairs of departments involved in helping patients with cardiovascular diseases and those involved in injury recovery program. As of now, the repairs were done in the trauma department, the neurology, the neurosurgery, the cardiology, the operations building is repaired, the cardiac intensive care, the neurosurgery intensive care was recreated. And those considerations did not prioritize purulent surgery that high. […] When I came into office, the whole building was in a really bad state. We began with capital repairs of the roof, changed the plumbing and lavatory equipment, installed modern windows. Cosmetic repairs were right next on the list. They gave us no money for the purulent surgery department during the modernization [of 2012-2013]. […] In late 2014, we found a possibility in the state guarantees program – one for compulsory medical insurance – and repair expenses were included in the tariff,” said the speaker.

According to him, a public auction for repairs of the second and third floors of the purulent surgery wing for a total sum of up to 14.5 million rubles will be announced in the nearest future.

“It [the auction] is ready to be published, but hasn’t been made public yet. All the negotiations [of tender documentation] are made on the levels of the Health and Finance Ministries,” Vyacheslav Kosmachev said.

“We start from the top. First of all, that includes repairs in the operating rooms and patient wards on the third floor, and intensive care and regular wards on the second floor. As for the terms, the auction will time out in March, and repairs will start in April,” he added, also saying they plan to finish the repairs by the end of July.

At the same time, Vyacheslav Kosmachev said the first floor of the wing which includes the admissions office and patient wards will begin only in the next year.

“As for the stages: second and third floor in 2015, the first floor will be repaired in 2016, in the first half [of the year] for sure. This means we will complete all auctions related to repairs of the first floor by the end of 2015,” he ensured.

Moreover, the CMO told the agency about procurement of new furniture for the wing.

“Now, about the furniture: beds and bedside drawers. We have already replaced them. We had 59 beds, we replaced 53 beds, installed new ones, as well as 53 bedside drawers. The shipment was completed on February 10. I was in the department myself on February 12, went through every ward: everything is on its place, the patients are very glad,” said Vyacheslav Kosmachev.

He also added that previous beds were indeed remaining from the Soviet times and had remained unreplaced from the 90-s.

“As the head [of the hospital], it is a shame for me to have such a dilapidated department in my hospital. We are trying to do all we can do, and the steps I have just told you about show we are trying to divert funds to the department even from the negligible financial assistance we have. And I definitely agree with the notion that a hospital should absolutely never have such departments,” Vyacheslav Kosmachev stressed.

He also thanked the Ministry of Health of the Penza region for assistance in terms of helping find a place in the tariff structure for repair expenses that formerly were compensated only through federal target programs.

The CMO also said the hospital plans to announce an auction to repair the first floor of the clinic by the hospital in 2015, along with the repairs of the purulent surgery department.

“As of now, we have prepared all the documentation for repairs of the registration office, the whole first floor, so that patients who come to the clinic would be received in good conditions. We plan to do it in 2015 as well: I think we will hold the auction during July,” the speaker concluded.