On 25 December 2019, a meeting in the JINR Directorate was held. The meeting was devoted to discussion of the progress of cooperation between the Medical Unit #9 and the FMBA of Russia in 2018 and the first results of the recently signed agreement with the Medical Unit #9 on allocation of an additional set of doctors at the expense of JINR for the Institute’s staff. Possible ways of further development of the Medical Unit were also considered. JINR Director V.A. Matveev, JINR Assistant Director G.D. Shirkov, JINR Assistant Chief Engineer E.D. Uglov, Chairman of the United Trade Union Committee-22 V.N. Nikolaev, Head of the Medical Unit #9 A.N. Kovalev participated in the meeting.

At the beginning of the report, A.A. Klimenko expressed gratitude on behalf of all staff members of the Medical Unit to V.A. Matveev and leaders of the Institute for the invaluable support during the year that was efficiently coordinated by a joint working group. It was highlighted that 2018 passed without any incidents, the staff of the Medical Unit was not only preserved but also increased thanks to the special department of the Medical Unit established to provide medical care to the JINR staff.

A.N. Kovalev noted that since September, JINR employees could make an appointment with six medical specialists as well as have a functional diagnostics. The equipment for the ophthalmologist, the otolaryngologist and other specialists was purchased for 1 million rubles. Since then, more than 2,000 Institute’s employees used a new opportunity of visiting specialized doctors. The creation of a new department unloaded other doctors of the Medical Unit #9 for Dubna citizens: now, everyone can arrange a visit to any specialist in a week, whereas previously one had to wait for two weeks or more. Repairs of the ground floor of the Medical Unit were finished, the record department was modernized. Simultaneously, repairs of the roof of the surgery department and pipelines in the basement, replacement of floor and wall coverings with fireproof materials in the department and the hospital were carried out at the FMBA expenses.

Fulfilling the wishes of employees and citizens, it is planned to build a ramp at the entrance of the hospital, to repair the ritual hall and the porch of the morgue, and the documentation for this is ready. V.A. Matveev highlighted that this is really important for all citizens of Dubna, not only for JINR staff members.

Leaders of the Medical Unit noted that funding from the FMBA is not carried out on a residual basis, it is full and is accorded with the JINR – FMBA Agreement on joint assistance to the Medical Unit #9 on a parity basis. As G.D. Shirkov said, the FMBA recommended to our Medical Unit to find its unique niche, and thus not to compete with the city hospital, for the development of which significant funds were allocated by the government of the Moscow region. For this aim, the gastroenterological department and the department of palliative care can be opened, the latter one can be provided not only to oncology patients but also to elderly people suffering from senility and in several other occasions.

V.P. Nikolaev and E.D. Uglov passed positive feedbacks of the staff and veterans of the Institute on improvement of the situation in the Medical Unit #9, but there is some criticism as well: elderly people have to go from the Institute’s district of the city to the hospital in the Bolshaya Volga district to get subsidized medicine. It was decided to work out the issue of organization of their distribution in the Medical Unit.

There is some lag in the introduction of electronic work incapacity certificates, but S.N. Dotsenko jointly with employees of the Accounts Department work in this direction. At the meeting, it was decided to provide an opportunity to non-working veterans of the nuclear power industry to use services of the special department of the Medical Unit along with the Institute’s staff. Such opportunity will be available since January 2019.

Olga Tarantina, JINR Weekly Newspaper