There are no plans to return the maternity hospital to Zhukovsk residents

At the end of March 2020, the science city learned that it was left without its maternity hospital, which had worked conscientiously for almost 70 years. The building was needed to fight the coronavirus and was quickly converted into an additional infectious diseases department of the Zhukovsk City Clinical Hospital.

The authorities swore that the repurposing was temporary, repeating the thesis many times in their messages and interviews .

The first alarm bell sounded in a report by the provincial TV channel “360” a month after the start of repairs and re-equipment of the building: “Most likely, the department will no longer be repurposed. It will remain infectious."

Numerous questions from citizens that arose immediately after watching the story were gradually lost among more pressing ones. But every now and then deputies and officials received reminders: “When will the maternity hospital be returned to Zhukovsky?”

The same question was posed to the authorities of the Moscow region in January 2022 by more than 3,700 citizens who signed a petition against the privatization of part of the hospital campus and for the opening of a maternity hospital in the science city. Moreover, the last proposal attracted almost more supporters than those opposed to the squandering of state property.

Moscow region officials completely ignored the opinion of the townspeople and, after the successful sale of the hospital territory with heating networks and the old building of the children's infectious diseases department, sent a response to the request of Zhukovskie Vesti, where they explained their motives.

According to the Ministry of Health of the Moscow Region, the property should be involved in economic turnover, and it is inappropriate to build a maternity hospital in Zhukovsky. The department referred to the order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation No. 1130n dated October 20, 2020 “On approval of the Procedure for the provision of medical care in the field of obstetrics and gynecology,” according to which the minimum number of beds for the maternity ward is 25. And the science city with its more than 100 thousand residents and the number of women giving birth in 2021 of 739 people needs only 9 beds.

We did not find in the mentioned document a specific indication of the minimum number of beds required to open a maternity hospital. They also did not find a calculation formula for determining their number based on the needs of the population. Perhaps someone will also want to check the statement of the regional Ministry of Health, and he will have better luck.

But here’s what we understood for sure: under the threat of a pandemic, healthcare optimizers did what they tried to do several years earlier - they deprived Zhukovsky of the maternity hospital. They say that it is purely out of good intentions, as part of improving the routing of pregnant women, redirecting them to large perinatal centers with the best quality of services. However, the opinions and needs of taxpayers, whose money is used to carry out the latest modernization, are not taken into account.

The full text of the letter from the Ministry of Health of the Moscow Region is in the episode of the “Results of the Week” stream dated February 10, 2022. Entire issue