Masha and Medvedev

The government decided to take the first steps towards children

The government has appointed the main father of Russia, who will be responsible for all our children. He became First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. By decision of the cabinet, it is he who will coordinate the Federal Target Program (FTP) “Children of Russia”. True, the appointment took place during the absence of the first vice-president at a government meeting (he is now in Khabarovsk). But the ministers had no doubt that none of them would cope with this responsible role better than Mr. Medvedev.

Although yesterday at the cabinet meeting there were not a large number of people willing to discuss “Children of Russia”. Absent were Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, Economic Development Minister German Gref, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu, and even Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko.

Such a massive outflow of government members, apparently, can be explained simply - it’s vacation time. Summer - vacation - children. However, Leonid Roshal, a pediatrician and member of the Public Chamber, who spoke at the meeting, was somewhat discouraged by such “attention” to the problem by government officials. “Neither the country’s chief pediatrician nor the chief gynecologist has been invited. Some kind of behind-the-scenes discussion, a truncated composition of government members. I don’t want to say that this is their attitude towards children...” - Mr. Roshal still said. The ministers present felt somewhat uneasy at the pediatrician’s words. This was especially noticeable in the case of Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. “Aren’t you ashamed?!” - asked the doctor. — At the beginning, a draft program was submitted to the government, which was estimated at at least 35 billion rubles. Now it's been cut to 13." Further, Mr. Roshal cited figures that were almost tens of times higher than government estimates. According to him, more than 200 billion rubles will be required just for standard European equipment for children’s intensive care units. (one bed costs 25 thousand dollars). “Something is working out a lot,” Mr. Fradkov was surprised.

Mr. Roshal called the main goal of the program to reduce child mortality to at least 5.5%, as in Europe. Our official statistics give a figure of 11%. But Mr. Roshal does not agree with her. He claims that the statistics are underestimated by half. “The program in the form in which it is proposed now will not reduce child mortality in the near future,” the doctor concluded. He was not asked a single question.

The head of the Ministry of Social Health Development, Mikhail Zurabov, was clearly not happy with Roshalev’s speech. But he agreed: funding is not enough. He said that the night before the Ministry of Social Health managed to extract from the Ministry of Finance not 11 billion rubles, but as much as 13. However, Deputy Minister of Finance Sergei Shatalov immediately stood up and said that “a large set of disagreements still remains.” “Is this a misunderstanding of the Ministry of Finance?” - Mr. Fradkov asked Mr. Zurabov. The minister diplomatically replied: “Over the past 24 hours, positions have become closer.” The cabinet gave two weeks for further rapprochement.

Mikhail Zurabov, meanwhile, again became a young dad. The father of an adult daughter and a growing son, the minister adopted the boy. He told reporters about this on Thursday after the government meeting. Answering the question whether he was ready to adopt a child himself and recommend that other ministers take such a step, Mr. Zurabov said: “This is a very personal question. For me, it has already been resolved in a sense. I have adopted a child.” The minister clarified that the adopted child is a boy, now two years old. The adoption took place four months ago.

According to the Ministry of Health and Social Development, the number of orphans in Russia in 2005 exceeded 730 thousand, about 200 thousand of them are being raised in boarding schools. Answering the question whether a one-time benefit of 8 thousand rubles, which is planned to be provided to guardians and adoptive parents, is enough, the minister and young father said: “This is a very debatable issue. It largely depends on the region where you live.” He emphasized that the introduction of a new type of benefit - for guardians and adoptive parents - is only one of the steps to improve the situation of children and families with children. “We are taking the first steps, positive steps to support families. This does not mean that they are the last. We must begin to move forward with these steps,” the minister concluded.

Vera KUZNETSOVA