Malingering doctors
A phantom for the doctor
Government and business will build a medical science center togetherTatiana Bateneva, "Russian Business Newspaper" No. 31-2012
The initiative was taken by the Kazan company "Eidos", which produces various simulators for the military, transport workers, emergency workers, as well as for doctors of various specialties. The proposal was supported by the President and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Ministry of Health of Russia, several large companies also intend to participate in the project.
On the basis of public-private partnership, they will finance the development of innovative medical products at the center, conduct scientific research in the field of cellular and nuclear medicine, and create new medicines. In the center, doctors will also be able to improve their skills on the basis of modern simulators that allow them to "rehearse" operations of any complexity. How was this initiative born?
"We are engaged in IT technologies in various fields - we produce simulators for training military specialists, emergency workers, transport workers," Ramil Gainutdinov, CEO of Eidos, told RBG. – But the social significance of medicine is undoubtedly above all others, which is why we decided to make it our priority. In addition, if customers have a choice in other areas, then there are no more manufacturers of medical simulators in Russia. And the need for them is growing, as the whole world refuses both human experiments and the use of various animals for medical training. Today, when more and more minimally invasive technologies are used in medicine, the training of doctors on simulators is of particular importance – virtual operations are more than 95% adequate to real ones.
In search of new ideas, the Kazan company offered cooperation on the creation of innovative products – programs for virtual operations – to the largest Russian medical universities and clinical centers. Among them are the First Moscow State Medical University, the Russian National Research Medical University, the Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute and a number of others. And I was convinced that each of the partners has unclaimed "treasures" – the latest treatment technologies that are unknown to the medical community and are used only where they were created. This is how the understanding was born that a common platform was needed on which all these findings could be presented to a wide audience, passed on to doctors from all regions of the country. The Center of Medical Science will be able to become such a platform.
The initiative was supported by Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, who instructed the government to work out the economic aspects of the project. The total cost of investments in the project is 1.2 billion rubles. The company plans to invest 300 million rubles in the construction and development of the center, the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan intends to invest 450 million rubles.
While the project is in the final stage of development. It is planned to build a new building with an area of 20 thousand square meters, which will house a training simulation center, an incubator for innovative projects, laboratories and pilot plants – for a total of 3,000 jobs. It will also house a conference hall, a hotel for specialists, representative offices of medical universities.
Today, simulators of five types are being produced – for the training of ambulance crews, surgeons specializing in minimally invasive operations on vessels, abdominal organs, the genitourinary system, and the reproductive sphere. These are computer programs that allow you to simulate the entire operation process – the doctor manipulates ordinary surgical instruments, and on the monitor sees an almost real operating field and all his actions.
"Rehearsals" on such simulators allow you to bring the whole process to absolute accuracy and avoid mistakes with real interventions.
In principle, it is possible to create such simulators for 96 medical specialties, and domestic systems are 2-3 times cheaper than foreign ones.
Future ophthalmologist surgeon from the Tennessee Medical Research Center (www.uthsc.edu ) – VM
The company's specialists are confident that in cooperation with leading Russian doctors and clinics they will be able to develop the necessary software products in the shortest possible time.
– We assume that fifteen hundred doctors from all regions of Russia will be able to train annually in the training simulation center, – Ramil Gainutdinov shares his plans. – The creation of a cloud service "operation rehearsals" will be able to raise the level of surgical care in the country.
Tatarstan already has a successful experience of creating an educational medical center within the framework of a public-private partnership. It was founded in 2008 by Johnson & Johnson together with the Ministry of Health of the Republic. It was the first PPP educational center in the world. The State, represented by the regional authorities, provided the building, provided its major repairs and administrative support. The business has invested its experience, including the experience of project management, and assumed operational costs. The center's budget of $15 million was designed for 5 years.
– In recent years, medical institutions in the country have received a lot of modern equipment, but only 20% of it worked at full capacity, – says Alexandra Matveeva, head of professional training programs at Johnson & Johnson. – The reason is that there are not enough trained personnel, which is why many centers do not have time to use even the funds allocated by the state for high-tech medical care that patients need so much. It was necessary to quickly train as many specialists as possible who possess new techniques and equipment. That's how our project was born.
Doctors, nurses, and clinic administrators are trained here. In four years, more than 4,000 doctors have already been trained, and for most of them the training was free. The center plans to expand educational programs, and in the future to enter the system of continuing postgraduate education of specialists.
Won't the two educational centers compete with each other?
"I'm sure not," Ramil Gainutdinov replies. – Our tasks are much broader – not just to train doctors using virtual technologies, but also to support innovative ideas, of which there are many in our research institutes and medical universities, to provide a platform for the exchange of experience and the presentation of everything new and advanced.
The project passed the expertise of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, which recognized it as realistic and in demand on the Russian market.
– By 2015, the system of accreditation of doctors will be changed – in order to get access to specific types of medical care, they will have to undergo training in each of them. Now we have a dominance of foreign solutions in our simulation centers, and Kazan offers Russian developments that fully comply with international standards, and even surpass imported analogues in a number of indicators," comments Vladimir Yablonsky, Director of the ASI Social Projects direction. – But the functions of the center in Kazan will be much broader. It assumes both scientific research and the development of new medical products. The fusion of science and practice will undoubtedly give a synergistic effect. Now there is already confirmation from the Ministry of Economic Development of the Republic of Tatarstan about the readiness to finance this project, there are proposals from private investors. And we, for our part, will form a mechanism of public-private partnership, when the state determines the policy in this area and guarantees the state order. This is the most promising way of development for domestic producers.
Such large companies as laser manufacturer IPG, which occupies 75% of the world market, manufacturers of medical equipment Eleps, Zarnitsa and others have shown interest in the project. The initiators are confident that in one and a half to two years, the new Medical Science Center will be able to issue its first developments and train the first batches of doctors in modern surgical technologies. Well, it remains only to put these plans into practice.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru21.08.2012