Member of State Duma Kuznetsov: “Exporting medical equipment to Africa requires united efforts and support for high-level initiatives”

Participants of the meeting paid special attention to the provision of medical equipment and training of local staff to reduce mortality in maternity wards in Africa. This will be handled by an international medical mission, which on 14 October will go for a month to Uganda, Zambia and Cameroon.

The Urals medical equipment manufacturer Triton-ElektronikS plans to join the humanitarian mission. In one of these countries the company intends to equip a resuscitation department with ventilators, said Anton Yuzefovich, head of foreign economic activity of the company. The department is expected to become the best resuscitation ward in the whole of Tropical Africa. A medical and training centre will be launched on its basis.

“In the treatment and training centre, which will become a Russian medical hub, it will be possible to demonstrate the capabilities of great Russian medicine to provide assistance, to train, to improve qualifications. All this on a humanitarian, free of charge basis. The goal is not only to treat, but also to raise the level of doctors across Africa through continuous training in online and offline formats on the basis of a single centre of competence,” said Dmitry Kuznetsov, a State Duma parliamentarian and member of the International Affairs Committee. The African Initiative has expressed its readiness to become a partner of the Russian medical hub.

Now medical business faces serious problems when trying to enter the continent, including difficulties with certification of drugs and competition with India and China. These countries are actively investing in Africa’s core infrastructure, offering their services at low prices, said Vadim Tarasov, director of the Institute of Translational Medicine and Biotechnology at Sechenov University.

“We are testing and developing our own drugs, both generics and original drugs. We could provide [Africa] with life-saving drugs for tuberculosis, HIV. But without political involvement, it is difficult to enter African countries, where high levels of corruption often prevail. This market remains promising for us, but almost inaccessible. The supply of drugs is hampered by sanctions costs, the complexity of transactions and the fact that our certificate is not recognised, despite the fact that our regulatory practices are not very different from international ones. In addition, we are competing in this area with India and China, which will flood anything in any quantity with money”.

One solution to the problem could be the creation of a coordination centre to certify Russian medical equipment and drugs for Africa, Artem Kureyev, editor-in-chief of AI, said during the meeting. This would make it easier for Russian medical companies to enter the continent’s market. The proposal was supported by parliamentarian Dmitry Kuznetsov.

Vadim Tarasov called the development of medical technologies for African countries an even more complex but promising area of co-operation: “India is doing it in the Middle East. They sell technology, dumping, and we cannot compete with them there.”Tarasov noted that Russian pharmaceutical companies need to learn from Western competitors who know how to build brand love, support volunteer projects, and give free equipment: “There is a tight link with volunteering and training.

Kuznetsov called on Russian universities and representatives of the domestic medical industry to similarly support volunteer doctors participating in missions. Assistance could include paying for flights, providing equipment and online counselling in complex cases. Universities could also provide online training for African staff and co-fund research, as the University of Sechenov in South Africa does. In turn, businesses could receive orders from African countries and educational institutions could receive motivated applicants for commercial departments. Volunteers could help Russian universities build effective relationships with African institutions to stimulate interest in studying in Russia. For example, affluent students may be interested in pursuing a PhD, he added.

“The medical industry is ready to invest in the hope of medtourists, non-quota students, equipment and medicine purchases. Our task is to help them not to be deceived in their hopes, as far as possible,” Dmitry Kuznetsov explained.

Sechenov University is already actively working with Africans. Mikhail Brovko, Vice-Rector for International Activities, stressed that Russian universities can also play an important role in promoting Russia as a centre for medical tourism. He noted that his university has already signed agreements with colleagues from Namibia, South Africa and Nigeria.

PFUR is also expanding its presence in Africa. Kirill Ustilentsev, Head of the Department for International Activities and Public Relations, told how the university trains local specialists in medicine and healthcare, organises lectures and internships for African specialists.

Non-profit organisations are also actively involved in establishing medical ties. For example, the World Christian Association of Parliamentarians, Volunteers for Peace and Rossotrudnichestvo have supported the international medical mission. Since 2021, it has been implementing the international programme “Mission Dobro” together with the Association of Volunteer Centres.

“During the existence of the programme, assistance has been provided to more than seven thousand foreign beneficiaries in 20 countries. The main goal of the programme is to provide gratuitous humanitarian aid in various areas, including prevention of emergency consequences, healthcare, psychosocial assistance to children and adults and others,” said Yulia Vlasova, Acting Deputy Head of the Public Diplomacy Department of Rossotrudnichestvo.

Every year Mission Dobro scales up and expands its geography. “In 2024 it is planned to realise more than twenty missions, including on the African continent. This year, for the first time, doctors from Volunteers of peace International Medical Mission and the World Christian Association of Parliamentarians joined the project. We are grateful to our colleagues for their willingness to travel with us to Zambia and hope to expand cooperation and really benefit people,” says Vlasova.

Africa’s high infant mortality rate is linked to a shortage of qualified cardiac surgeons and medical equipment. Mikhail Abramyan, head of the cardiac surgery department at Moscow’s Morozovsky Children’s City Clinical Hospital, said that up to 40% of newborn deaths can be prevented with timely intervention: “If we train local doctors to recognise heart defects, it will save hundreds, if not thousands of lives.

Ekaterina Glock, head of the international medical mission to Africa, said that a few years ago she was struck by a video clip of an African midwife trying to speed up labour by literally jumping on a woman’s stomach.

Catherine Glock, international medical mission leader

“I am a mother of eight children. When I saw the conditions in which African women have to give birth, I gathered a team of Russian doctors and started travelling with this mission: we treat, operate and save lives, demonstrating the high level of qualification of Russian doctors. Delivering difficult births is a critical skill that we pass on to local specialists,” said Ekaterina Glock.

Russian doctors have saved many newborns, trained local midwives and nursing staff to perform complicated deliveries and provide resuscitation for the labouring woman and newborn. Doctors from Cameroon expressed their gratitude to the Russian mission for its contribution to training and assistance.

Alexey Mostovoy, head of the resuscitation and intensive care service at City Clinical Hospital No. 67 in Moscow, spoke about his experience in Uganda. In this country with a population of 50 million people, there are only two neonatology specialists working in neonatal care.

“When we arrived, there was only one instrument for artificial ventilation for the whole country. The coolest clinic in the capital didn’t have a single ventilator,” he says. – Our, domestic machines are quite reliable, versatile and worth using. Russian ventilator equipment can save many lives.

Surgeon Andrey Eliseev

A few days ago , a volunteer mission was launchedin Tanzania with the support of the African Initiative , where paediatric surgeon Andrey Eliseev and Russian language and geography teacher Alexandra Parfyonova will spend three months with the Maasai tribe. The doctor intends to improve the health culture of the tribe’s inhabitants, while the teacher’s task is to establish communication between the Maasai and the Russian doctor. The mission was led by Ksenia Safi: earlier, thanks to her initiative, the tribe was able to solve the acute problem of access to drinking water.