Medics with a mission

by Anna Sulimina at 28/04/2012

The Moscow News

Agroup of Russian-speaking doctors from the United States has begun developing a charity exchange program for doctors between the two countries.

The doctors, mostly Russian emigres or children of Russian parents, participate in the Russian American Medical Association, a charity organization that has up to 10,000 medical professionals and students from throughout the United States as members.

The association focuses on the treatment of congenital heart disease among children, the subject of its 2007 project in Kemerovo, “Child’s Heart.”

Start of mission

This project, the charity’s first in Russia, initiated the joint medical mission of Russian and American doctors, which not only delivers free medical equipment to local hospitals and provides vital treatment to children with heart diseases, but also helps regional Russian doctors exchange knowledge and share experiences with American colleagues.

The American doctors visit Kemerovo four times a year, two weeks each time, to perform operations on sick children. Their visits have increased the number of cardiac operations on infants to up to 200 per year. The program has been so successful that other cities, such as Tomsk, Ufa, Ioshkar-Ola, Perm, and Krasnodar, have asked to join.

In April, a group of American doctors – a surgeon, a neurosurgeon, and a cardiovascular surgeon – came on a charity trip to Yaroslavl, hometown of Ohio surgeon and RAMA founder Boris Vinogradsky. In four days they carried out eight heart operations and about 10 lung operations at the local clinic, working together with Yaroslavl doctors.

Struggles with red tape

Vinogradsky is eager to develop the humanitarian mission in Russia and extend its reach, but he said that there were still many obstacles from the Russian side, including red tape and official inefficiency.

“We are willing to develop a long-term joint project in Russia,” he said. “The charity missions we’ve already had have proved their success and necessity, however there is unfortunately still a lack of trust from the Russian partners and much red tape, which impedes the project.”

RAMA has met with support from the Kemerovo region’s government, with the regional budget providing part of the transportation costs and shipment costs for equipment, which helps the program to develop further.

In most cases, however, regional officials are unwilling to provide funding without a federal decree, which is difficult to obtain for American doctors – the Health and Social Development Ministry has so far ignored applications from RAMA. For the time being, most of RAMA’s visits are financed by the U.S. government, the association itself, or private support.

Plans for reform

Despite this, RAMA has very ambitious plans to introduce reforms to Russian health care. Besides charity operations in the regions, it is building up a program for regional doctors to visit the United States for observations and internships.

“People in the Russian regions are not receiving sufficient medical treatment, and some diseases that have already been treated in the U.S. are still considered incurable in Russia,” said Yevgeniy Khavkin, a Nevada neurosurgeon.

“This is due to medical education in Russia, lack of compensation for doctors, especially in the regions, and a lack of incentive to improve qualifications,” Khavkin said. “All this is because Russian medicine is still considered a free service, a fact that impedes its development.”

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