The Ural State Medical University (USMU) hosted a meeting between Mikhail Murashko, the Minister of Health of Russia, and students of universities and colleges of Yekaterinburg – the most active participants of the contests «Your Turn» and «Big Change», which are included in the presidential platform «Russia is a country of opportunities». The event was held in the format of a lecture and was organized as part of the educational project of the Russian Society «Knowledge».

Mikhail Murashko’s lecture was devoted to the peculiarities of the health care system in Russia. The Minister told how the work on providing high-quality, affordable medical care is being adjusted, taking into account the challenges of today and the existing volume of work. In particular, the minister noted that the number of requests for outpatient care per year in Russia is more than a billion. In total, 120 thousand medical organizations and 250 thousand healthcare facilities function in the country.

Mikhail Murashko said « Today, the healthcare system must cope with all the tasks facing it in conditions of instability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, it is more necessary than ever to have a system of rapid information, data collection and rule changes».

Minister of health noted «A few years ago, we collected information once a year – today this is impossible to imagine. New demands are being made, including on our internal self-discipline. Compliance with certain rules is dominant in our security policy today».

Also, Mikhail Murashko separately thanked the participants of the volunteer movement, whose work is of particular importance during the coronavirus pandemic:

«We feel the help of medical volunteers, business, and ordinary citizens – without this, a large amount of work with the population is impossible».

After the lecture, the Minister answered the students’ questions. One of them concerned the prospects for the construction of a medical cluster in the Akademichesky district of Yekaterinburg: according to the minister, the implementation of this project will take place in stages. Its first part, concerning the Research Institute of Maternity and Infancy Protection, will be discussed today with Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, at the exhibition «Innoprom».

Another question – how to become the Minister of Health of Russia – was asked by Daniil Klyuchnikov, a student of the Preventive Medicine Faculty of Ural State Medical University. First, you need to graduate from the Ural Medical University, Mikhail Murashko, a graduate of USMU in 1992, jokingly noted. He added that the Ural university has already trained three ministers in its history:

«Therefore, there are chances. If there is a task to become a minister, then you need to go through the entire chain in order to understand how the health care system works. You have to constantly study – I don’t remember a single year that I did not go through this or that study. The main thing is desire, a sense of responsibility, movement forward».