How “network hamsters” admired China, but did not notice Russia’s success
Do you remember how just a few weeks ago the “network hamsters” were delighted with the unprecedented pace of construction of a new hospital in China? But it turned out that our military in Russia built a whole series of medical complexes in record time, which were superior to the Chinese ones. However, liberals and lovers of everything foreign found this no longer so interesting.
So, as part of the fight against coronavirus in Russia, 16 multifunctional medical centers were quickly built in different regions of the country. Specialists from the Ministry of Defense helped in this, their work showed that today the military department is, perhaps, the most effective structure in the state. Full-fledged medical institutions, unlike the modular hospitals promoted in the press that were built by Chinese specialists in their country, will last a long time and after the end of the coronavirus pandemic they will turn from infectious diseases hospitals into therapeutic, surgical and other departments.
“The Russian military began building these centers back in February, when our people didn’t give a damn and didn’t even know about any coronavirus. A headquarters was created, and construction began in March. In advance, because people already understood that there would be thousands of patients who would need to be hospitalized. The military managed it in a very short time,” notes political scientist Oleg Matveychev.
“One of the components of this efficiency, in my opinion, is that all actions, all approvals, commands took place within one department - the Ministry of Defense. It itself was there inside and purchased materials, coordinated itself, and sent commands. That is, they do not need to conduct long bureaucratic correspondence with various subcontractors and others. This is why our civilian buildings take a year, ten years to build – because there are endless bureaucratic approvals, visas, disputes between ministries and departments, and so on. But here there is no need to argue with anyone, and everything is done.
This is an example when what is called manual control works - he took it and did it, like in war. In war, when they shoot at the enemy from the trenches, the soldiers do not write plans, estimates, justifications, then they do not count the number of bullets fired, the effectiveness and then they are not responsible, if you shot more bullets and killed fewer enemies, you can be accused of misuse the use of bullets is punishable if they hit a tree. These same things are not there in the army, but in civilian life they are, unfortunately, in civilian administration. We need to get rid of all this bureaucracy - this is a very important lesson that our army is the most effective not only from the point of view of military things, as it showed us in Syria, but it is the most effective place in the state even from the point of view of purely civilian things .
Just like military doctors, they quickly retrained and transferred them from hospitals scattered in different places to large multifunctional centers where patients are brought so that they can immediately serve them. This was all done quickly, too,” said the political scientist.
According to the expert, after doctors manage to cope with the spread of the epidemic, the medical centers built by the Ministry of Defense will be transferred to civilians and used as regular hospitals:
“It is natural that then all this will be transferred to the civil authorities and will serve as long as necessary. Each of these hospitals, as we have seen, can be easily repurposed. That is, it could be surgical departments, it could be traumatology, for example. So, if necessary, it will be possible to transport all the ambulances to one place, and not scatter them across ten hospitals. All this naturally helps medicine and increases its capabilities.”
However, it should also be recalled that the experience that military doctors gained in wars is widely used in treating patients in peacetime. In particular, at the moment, doctors who participated in hostilities work in the best military treatment centers in Russia, such as: Third Central Military Clinical Hospital named after. A.A. Vishnevsky, Main Military Clinical Hospital named after. N.N. Burdenko, etc.
One of the 16 new medical centers was built by the military in Sevastopol in less than two months. Before this, there was only one infectious diseases hospital in the city of federal significance, built in the 50s of the last century and significantly dilapidated over several decades.
According to Ekaterina Altabaeva, a member of the Federation Council from Sevastopol, the new medical center, built by the Ministry of Defense, was provided with the most modern equipment and became a significant help for local doctors.
“We have one infectious diseases hospital, and although, of course, our medical institutions were repurposed, when at the end of March we began a period of high alert, and then self-isolation, no one knew the scale of how this would spread in Sevastopol. Therefore, we really needed reserve beds for infectious patients. Even now, God willing, we have overcome the first wave, maybe there will not be a second - we are counting on this, we hope, but in any case, our infectious diseases hospital was built a very long time ago - in the 50s. Although renovations were being done there, we are planning a medical complex, which will include, among other things, a completely new infectious diseases hospital. But this will take time; it will still be built someday. Therefore, both for the needs of the Black Sea Fleet and for the needs of the city of Sevastopol itself, of course, these additional beds were very, very necessary. Moreover, they are equipped with the latest, let’s say, medical requirements - this is also very important.
I believe that a huge amount of work has been done and assistance has been provided by the Ministry of Defense to both the fleet and the city. We understand that such centers appeared not only in Sevastopol, and only the Ministry of Defense had the opportunity to quickly mobilize additional funds and forces to carry out such construction. For Sevastopol, this, I repeat, is very important,” Altabaeva said
Medical centers built by the military will help not only today, but also in the future, because epidemics have accompanied humanity for many millennia of its existence and will arise again.
History says that people have been fighting infections since the times of Ancient China, Egypt and Mesopotamia. This struggle did not always lead to easy victories, but one way or another the epidemics receded, sometimes taking with them a large number of victims.
Thus, entire cities died out from the plague in the Middle Ages, epidemics “mowed down” the armies of states and did not spare rulers. The plague was brought to the territory of Rus' in 1090 with trade caravans, because of which about 10 thousand people died in Kiev alone, and in 1096-1270, during an ongoing epidemic in Egypt, more than a million people died from the plague. In 1320, this disease destroyed more than three quarters of the population of Hubei province in China; the number of victims in India, Central Asia, and Persia is not known exactly. Between 1338 and 1353, the plague killed between 60 and 200 million people in Europe, representing between 30 and 60% of Europe's population. In 1654-1657, during the Russian-Polish War, most of the Muscovites, the population of nearby villages and other large cities died from the plague. The plague epidemic of 1770-1771 occurred in Russia during the Russo-Turkish War, when the disease was brought to the empire along with Turkish trophies.
The plague, among all known epidemics, namely smallpox, malaria, typhoid, cholera, leprosy, syphilis, influenza, etc., was characterized by the most severe consequences. It came during the most intense historical period of wars and socio-political unrest, leading to radical changes in economic structures, religious reformations, the destruction of empires and the emergence of new states.
The world also experienced several major disease outbreaks in the history of the 20th century. Just look at the influenza pandemic, the so-called “Spanish Flu,” which lasted from 1918 to 1919, became the largest in history and claimed the lives of up to 100 million people, or 5% of the world’s population. About 30% of the world's population have had the Spanish flu.
In the 21st century, humanity has faced bird and swine flu, Ebola and other disease outbreaks. The current COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is not yet fully understood, but it is likely that after it humanity will face new threats.
It is believed that currently about twelve countries in the world may have stockpiles of biological weapons. Probably, the risk of injuring one’s own population when using this type of weapon has so far restrained its large-scale use. But it seems quite possible to develop new types of genetically modified artificial microorganisms - bacteria and viruses that have targeted selective sensitivity and cause fatal lesions in people of specific nationalities, gender, age, and so on.
In this regard, modern states must have an effective mobile, flexible system for early detection and identification of the causative agent of an infectious disease and technologies for a quick effective response. In such a situation, the effective operation of a medical system for monitoring biological and other threats is extremely important.
It is multidisciplinary medical centers (like those being built by the Russian Ministry of Defense) that can become the organization on the basis of which the research institutes of the future will be created. Such centers, of course, must have analytical and scientific units to most effectively respond to new threats to human health. We must be constantly prepared to provide medical care and carry out anti-epidemic, sanitary and hygienic measures at the highest professional level.
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