Chukotka version

Viktor Antonov's open letter caused many to look for political motives in it

In January 2016, a doctor with many years of experience, the first vice-speaker of the Pskov Regional Assembly of Deputies, Viktor Antonov, addressed an open letter to the rector of Pskov State University, Yuri Demyanenko, in which he opposed the training of doctors at the main university of the region. The vice speaker's demarche against his former colleague in the regional administration was interesting primarily by the timing of its appearance. Given the lack of information about the university's medical plans, there seemed to be some kind of political agenda behind Antonov's letter.

The first vice-speaker of the Pskov Regional Assembly, Viktor Antonov, saw a cybernetics physician only once in his life. Photo: Artem Avanesov

The medical ambitions of Pskov State University became known in December 2012, when the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of Pskov State University Vladimir Mikushev triumphantly announced at a press conference the upcoming enrollment of students for the mysterious specialty “medical cybernetics” at the opening medical faculty.

A year later, in September 2013, Andrei Turchak , dealing with the traditional scarlet ribbon of the opening, called future cybernetics graduates happy people. “You can be sure that six years after graduation, you are guaranteed to get a job in the region,” he explained then.

Guarantees of employment may still be in force now, but the faculty itself, despite the ambitious tasks (to solve the personnel problem in the medical industry of the region), ceased to exist even before the first graduation, not justifying Turchak’s hopes for the “great future of the faculty.” In September 2015, medicine at the university merged with geography, psychology and theology, and the mission of cybernetics doctors, as well as the range of their activities, became even more mysterious.

The light at the end of the medical tunnel of Pskov State University began to dawn in October 2015, when Andrei Turchak, at a working meeting with Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Olga Golodets, optimistically stated: “The region is ready to close the shortage of nursing staff using its own reserves, increasing the state order for planned enrollment in medical colleges.” .

Golodets was not at a loss and instructed the governor to work on the issue of creating a branch of one of the Russian medical universities on the basis of Pskov State University within a month. In her opinion, this would allow the region to close the shortage of doctors.

In this situation, the authorities somehow lost sight of the fact that the university, as a federal institution of higher education, is de jure under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and it is it that must make decisions about the opening of new programs and directions. But de facto the situation looked different: behind the creation of new directions at Pskov State University, as a rule, are the regional administration and the elite of the administrative apparatus, which generates ideas “to suit the existing situation.”

Nevertheless, Pskov University had options for opening a branch of a medical university: it had agreements with the North-Western State University named after. Mechnikov and the Russian National Research University named after. Pirogov.

However, the enthusiasm of the governor and Olga Golodets in solving the issue of personnel shortage of doctors, apparently, was not initially shared at the university itself. In December 2015, the leadership of Pskov State University officially announced to the “Pskov Province” that the issue of creating a branch of a medical university had not been considered and there was no subject for discussion.

Therefore, when in January 2016 Viktor Antonov criticized the medical plans of Pskov State University, this caused slight bewilderment among the public (after all, it seemed that the topic had been exhausted), but the Honored Doctor of Russia was adamant.

“Doctors are trusted with the most valuable things – health and life. You cannot enter this profession from the street or for money. Any attempt to simplify obtaining a doctor’s diploma will inevitably affect the level of education and qualifications of each of the graduates who will treat you and us in our Pskov hospitals and clinics,” Antonov lectured Yuri Demyanenko and directly protested. “The majority of my fellow doctors, sharing doubts about the possibility of high-quality training of medical personnel, without having the appropriate clinical base, teaching staff and other conditions necessary for training medical doctors, do not approve of the opening of a medical faculty at Pskov State University.”

An open letter from the first vice-speaker of the Pskov Regional Assembly of Deputies caused many to look for an irrational political motive in it. Andrei Turchak was initially behind the creation of the medical department of Pskov State University; in September 2013, Demyanenko emphasized that the medical faculty was created by order of the administration of the Pskov region.

In October 2015, Olga Golodets instructed Andrei Turchak to work on the issue of creating a branch of one of the Russian medical universities on the basis of Pskov State University for a month. Photo: Pskov News

For the management of the university, the medical faculty with federal support means additional funds. At the moment, the budget of the hypothetical faculty is unknown; the university responded to our request that “there is no subject for discussion on this topic.” Antonov in his letter spoke about the medical faculty of Pskov State University, there was no talk about an intra-university branch, which also gave rise to questions: did the university refuse to “adopt” the branch? Have you decided to independently take on new medical heights under the banner of “medicine”?

In a conversation with Pskov Gubernia, Viktor Antonov asked not to see political implications in his letter and referred to the freedom of speech declared by the Constitution: “I have the right to say what I think, what bothers me, that’s why I said it. And some kind of background that is supposedly behind this - what the governor said, what the governor did, the rectors will be removed or appointed - I’m not even interested in that.”

The first vice speaker admitted that he has reliable information: Yuri Demyanenko is working hard to open a medical faculty, whose task will be to train doctors: “There is still no specific official decision on the opening today. Of course, before you ring the bells, you need to take a look. But I heard from Demyanenko’s speech (I don’t remember where) that he was really planning an opening and was working on it. The information was also confirmed by Natalya Ivanova ( ex-dean of the ex-medical faculty of Pskov State University - Ed .). “I know Demyanenko’s wishes on this topic; this was discussed at the meeting in Opochka.”

Viktor Antonov explained the date of publication of the letter vaguely: “The doctors with whom I worked, whom I have respect for (and not only them), constantly call me and ask whether the medical faculty will really open, asking what I think about it. I expressed my opinion in a letter. In addition, it was very important for me to find out the opinion of my colleagues, first of all, I mean doctors, those who are talented, distinguished, those whom the population knows. Today, all the projects that the authorities implement are, as a rule, discussed, right? I thought I had the right to do this.”

The deputy chairman of the Pskov parliament was not embarrassed by the fact that his criticism was actually directed at the initiative of the government and the governor: “You, journalists, know about the conversation with Golodets. I honestly don’t know what she told him. I never talked to the governor about this topic. I know one thing: we have a federal university, and, probably, the decision here is made, first of all, by Moscow and our rector. I’m generally far from the university, I don’t know what’s going on there, who will change whom and how. What about the governor? To be honest, I don’t know his opinion on this matter. I know that Turchak is very concerned about the problem of personnel shortage in the medical field. That’s what I know for sure.”

The cybernetics doctors already existing at Pskov State University do not evoke anything but skepticism in Antonov: “I have only seen a cybernetics doctor once in my life. She is engaged in the trade of medicines and equipment and came from Moscow. I don't know anything else. I believe that this is an absolutely commercial project of the university and nothing more. How will the children who will be trained there work? Where will they work? Where are they in demand? I just can't imagine."

At the level of the regional administration, Antonov’s voice of protest was not heard. And there are few chances for a constructive discussion in conditions when the authorities have found a “recipe for salvation.” Even the regional hospital adapted to the medical fantasies of the university, and thanks to this received clinical status. Reporting news about the upcoming change in the status of the hospital, in January 2015, the Chairman of the Pskov Region State Committee for Health and Pharmacy, Igor Potapov, said that 2 years ago, a faculty of medical education appeared on the basis of Pskov State University, which includes three departments: fundamental medicine, medical informatics and cybernetics, and the department of applied medicine and clinical psychology. “The last department is located on the basis of the Pskov Regional Hospital. This created the conditions for assigning it clinical status,” he explained and clarified that the hospital has allocated premises where the educational process will take place, a conference room, and 2 training rooms.

But Antonov is not convinced by the changes at his previous workplace: “What is clinical status? The regional hospital has always been a base for training doctors in internship: practice, subordination, after the sixth year the guys studied, residents came from Moscow and St. Petersburg, came, if you like, to practice, or something... That is, they studied practical medicine on the spot. There's nothing new there. In order to have a basis for training student doctors, special conditions are needed: the name “clinical” is not enough here. Firstly, this is the teaching staff. Where is he? Who is he? I don't know today. We have a lot (you read my letter) of doctors and people in white coats who have master's and doctoral dissertations. Their origin is largely, in my opinion, questionable. But this is a separate topic. But the most important thing: teaching and treating are completely different things. This is not the craft of a shoemaker or a turner, who showed how it should be done - and that’s all. There must be theoretical, fundamental knowledge and knowledge in medicine, and this can only be provided by a clinic that has a school and a base. Our regional hospital is not ready for this.”

Pskov State University Rector Yuri Demyanenko, according to established tradition, did not immediately respond to the open letter, but two weeks later he took advantage of the Echo of Moscow in Pskov broadcast , where he demonstrated the wonders of casuistry and diplomacy: “Is the faculty ready to open treatment programs? If we talk about the medical faculty, then no: we are not yet ready to open a medical faculty. But if we talk about the Faculty of Medical Education, where the non-clinical direction of education still dominates, then yes, we already have it.”

In assessing the activities of the former medical faculty, the rector was somewhat fatalistic: “Everything seems to be going as it should be. In order for the medical faculty to exist, of course, the material base must be somewhat different than it is now. It is probably necessary to train teachers, not only theorists, but also practitioners. This takes time. But you have to start somewhere. It’s ridiculous to wait for us to have a Chukchi version. Because there are only 49 thousand inhabitants, and the budget of Chukotka is 24 billion rubles - more than the entire budget of the Pskov region. They are the only ones, perhaps, that have an electrically heated runway. When we have such financial support in our region, the issues of the medical personnel plan will probably be resolved more easily.”

Yuri Demyanenko, it seems, decided to remain in the history of Pskov higher education as a decisive “rector of the cause”: “These fears ( we are talking about Antonov’s letter - Ed .) are certainly justified. I am grateful to Viktor Vasilyevich for the fact that he cares about the quality education of medical programs. This is right. This is probably how it should be. The only difference is that you can wait for the weather from the sky, or you can try to do something yourself,” he said and bravely defended the cyberneticists. - Why medical cybernetics? Yes, because a cybernetics doctor can be involved in many areas of medical activity (this could be a laboratory assistant, diagnostician, radiologist, and so on). They say that we have no need for them - this is complete nonsense. Today, the Pskov region needs 498 doctors, of which 90 places can be filled by our graduates. They will have a place to work, but how we prepare them, how well, life will show.”

As a result, Pskov State University doctors are now studying at “two universities”: some subjects are studied at the North-Western State University named after. Mechnikov, where they periodically go for two to three weeks, some of them within their own walls. Cybernetics doctors say that, according to their information, the medical faculty will soon regain its independence (“as soon as the crisis is over”), and modestly admit that “they can more or less provide medical knowledge at Pskov State University.” But to what extent “more or less” and “sufficiently” correlate with each other still remains a question.