Reports on the implementation of state target programs in the healthcare sector for 2023

Parliamentarians in the course of the plenary session heard a report on the implementation of 6 state target programs in the healthcare sector in 2023. Minister of Healthcare Kristina Albul answered the questions of the Supreme Council deputies.

More than 35.5 thousand residents of the republic underwent examinations last year as part of the program “Prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections”. 132 new cases of HIV were registered among adults and one case in a child. Doctors recorded the most cases in 2023 in Rybnitsa, Slobodzeya and Dubossary districts.

Specialists conducted rapid testing for HIV, syphilis and viral hepatitis B and C for everyone. More than 1700 people were tested in total. 9 people positive for HIV, 20 people with positive tests for syphilis, as well as 37 people with viral hepatitis C and 19 with viral hepatitis B were identified.

The incidence of viral hepatitis B and C remains quite high in Pridnestrovie. The number of patients continues to grow, as was noted following the results of the state program for the prevention of viral hepatitis over the past year. There are 2214 patients with chronic viral hepatitis B and C in the republic currently. The Supreme Council adopted the state program for the prevention of these diseases in July 2021. A unified register of sick people is gradually being created, their dispensary records are being maintained, and patients are undergoing antiviral therapy. 587 patients completed therapy, almost 300 were removed from the register after recovery.

Another state target program in the healthcare system worked last year – “Oncology: improving cancer care for the population of the PMR” for 2021–2025. It is aimed at reducing socio-economic losses from cancer, introducing effective prevention methods into medical practice, and early detection, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of cancer patients.

1822 people were registered with a diagnosis of oncology, more than half of them with stages I-II of the disease in 2023. Deputy of the Supreme Council Gregory Dyachenko asked a question about the provision of medicines to cancer patients.

Minister of Healthcare Kristina Albul noted that out of 56 medicines that Pridnestrovie purchases for the treatment of cancer patients, only 4 items were not purchased in 2023. They were purchased and delivered to the republic at the beginning of the second half of 2023 and at the beginning of this year, the head of the department noted.

The medicines necessary for the treatment of cancer patients, purchased last year, are now available, the minister added. Free specialized medical care was provided on an outpatient basis and in hospitals across the republic. More than 4.5 thousand cancer patients received treatment in hospitals in 2023, and consulted specialists on an outpatient basis 58.5 thousand times.

As for other health programs, the situation with the prevention of cardiovascular diseases remains virtually unchanged. The high mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases in Pridnestrovie is associated with the low level of seeking help in the early stages of the disease, as experts note.

Laboratory tests were carried out to carry out preventive measures within the framework of the state program for the prevention of tuberculosis on patients with tuberculosis who were registered at the dispensary in all tuberculosis dispensaries and specialized offices of the republic, in penitentiary institutions of the Ministry of Justice. Funds from the Global Fund were used to supply tests, culture media and laboratory glassware for the diagnosis of tuberculosis through humanitarian aid. However, the epidemiological situation in Pridnestrovie regarding tuberculosis continues to be epidemic, doctors say. According to the Ministry of Health, 254 people were registered for the first time in 2023. The incidence of tuberculosis among children has also increased. For example, 8 cases were registered among children and adolescents in 2022, and there are already 50 in 2023.

As for the program for immunization of the population, vaccination has made it possible to maintain the status of the region free of polio the Ministry of Health notes. The incidence of infections remains at low levels. 49 cases of whooping cough, 4 cases of mumps and 221 cases of tuberculosis were registered out of the 11 infections against which immunization is carried out in the republic during 2023. Cases of rubella, measles, diphtheria, polio and tetanus have not been recorded in Pridnestrovie for a long time.

The state spent more than 50.5 million rubles on the implementation of state programs in the healthcare sector last year.