Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko is paying a visit to Minsk City Clinical Hospital No. 4 named after N.Ye.Savchenko on 14 December, BelTA informs.

The head of state will inspect the coronavirus treatment process at the hospital.

Chief physician of the hospital Vatslav Yanushko told the president that the hospital has 888 beds, and that 70% of them are used for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. The hospital continues to provide services in the field of expertise, although to a lesser extent.

“We must understand that there are many other patients apart from those with coronavirus. People are still suffering from cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer. Therefore, you are doing the right thing helping people with other diseases,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “The main thing is to make sure that this number of beds is enough.”

According to the head of state, it makes no sense to keep people in hospitals for too long if they are getting better. “When people finish their treatment at home, they feel more comfortable and recover more quickly. It does not mean that we should discharge patients as quickly as possible. But if there is good dynamics, if patients are recovering well, we should not keep them in hospital. Statistics shows: 0.31% of people (even less than 1%) are hospitalized again. This is a good indicator. It proves the efficiency of the system, and we should keep it not to repurpose more cancer treatment facilities for the treatment of Covid-19 patients,” the president said.

In his words, Russian healthcare specialists forecast a surge of cancer in the coming years in their country. Less preventive measures are taken because of Covid-19. “We must keep a vigilant eye on this matter. Timely diagnostics of cancer and other diseases is needed,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

Minsk hospital No. 4 (the therapeutic unit, part of the surgical unit, the nephrology unit) as well as a number of other Minsk hospitals were repurposed for treating Covid-19 patients in October.

It was reported earlier that Aleksandr Lukashenko had already visited Minsk City Clinical Hospital No. 6, the Vitebsk Oblast Maternity Hospital, the Stolbtsy Central District Hospital.

Minsk City Clinical Hospital No. 4 was opened on 1 October 1960. Today this is a leading healthcare institution specializing in urology, nephrology, general, vascular and purulent surgery, cardiology, plastic and esthetic surgery.