A "Silver Necklace" Gift: Small Historic Towns to Be Restored Under New Putin Initiative
The state will additionally allocate 5 billion rubles for the best municipal improvement projects in small towns and historical settlements. Vladimir Putin stated this today in Kolomna where he visited the Forum of Small Towns of Russia. At the same time, the President urged local authorities to develop the competitive advantages of tourist centers.
However, as the head of state saw, today’s Kolomna is not only one of such centers, but also a city with modern healthcare.
Our observer Alexei Petrov reporting from the Moscow Oblast.
This is the Kolomna perinatal center. It was opened last autumn. There are more than two hundred doctors of the highest qualification here. The complex has the latest technology equipment. And, almost half of the devices were made in Russia. Kolomna doctors now have their own training and simulation center. Vladimir Putin is shown how doctors resuscitate newborns and accompany birth. The dummy even has a name.
- Her name is Masha, and she gives birth in an unusual way.
The construction and commissioning of the complex cost around 3,5 billion rubles. Everything is high-tech.
Vladimir Putin: Where did you use to give birth?
Female patient: In Yegoryevsk.
Vladimir Putin: How was it?
- Good, but it's also good here.
Vladimir Putin: But it's better here, isn't it?
- Of course. I was better treated here, and the equipment is better.
Birthing homes and female counseling centers from all around the region can communicate with the perinatal center directly.
Medical professional: We'd like to boast.
Vladimir Putin: Please.
- We will. The telemedicine law was adopted January 1. All the clinics I control can communicate with me.
Vladimir Putin: Which one is the farthest?
- The farthest one is in Ramenskoye.
Vladimir Putin: How many patients do you have?
- 250 patients a day.
Of course, any hospital's most precious thing is its doctors. Happy mothers constantly thank them.
- Mothers who gave birth here wrote some words for you. What can we give you? Such an album. They described what they felt when giving birth in these perinatal centers.
Vladimir Putin: "Did they? I doubt that they described exactly what they felt".
The new perinatal center is part of a large-scale federal program that was launched on the President's initiative and is being implemented under Vladimir Putin’s personal supervision.
Similar complexes appeared all over the country. A new building will soon be built in the Khabarovsk perinatal center. Doctors can now save lives of women and babies even in the most difficult cases.
Last year, in addition to the Moscow Oblast Naro-Fominsk and Shchelkov, perinatal centers were opened in Abakan, Nalchik, Tambov, Magnitogorsk, Bryansk, Yakutsk, and Makhachkala. Moreover, it was possible to reduce infant mortality.
Female patient: "We can use all the equipment thanks to the doctors. And we can hold the babies".
By the end of 2018, more than 90 similar centers will be built in the country, by order of the President, where even infants with pathologies can be cared for. As a result, from 2000 to 2016, the birth rate in the country grew by one and a half times.
It wasn’t by accident that the forum was held in Kolomna, a city that changed markedly in just a few years. Kolomna is one of the oldest cities of the Moscow Oblast. It was first mentioned 840 years ago. Not long ago, even the city center was in a deplorable state. But gradually, both streets and architectural monuments were put in order. And today’s Kolomna is a real pearl where thousands of tourists go.
Another Kolomna landmark is the local pastila.
- Mr. President, this is the traditional Kolomna pastila. This sort was being delivered to St. Petersburg in Dostoyevsky times.
Vladimir Putin: Is this one from that times?
- No, we made some more.
The President tried the honey-flavored sweet and treated his interlocutors.
- This one is honey-flavored.
Vladimir Putin: Will it be more tasty?
The development of small towns is a federal-scale priority. For example, a project to support them was launched last year.
Vladimir Putin: "As we agreed, we’ll continue implementing it, and 25 billion rubles will be allocated for it from the federal budget every year from 2018 to 2020".
Money is also needed to restore the historical appearance of unique cities.
Denis Lebedev, Head of Kolomna: "Kolomna has its traditional lantern made of 4 pieces of glass. And such lanterns were installed in the city, but, of course, they are new, modern, and beautifully lit. That is, we’re restoring the history with new opportunities and new technical equipment".
But these results can only be achieved together with the residents themselves.
Vladimir Putin: "It is always very important to engage people in the process, to make them feel like collaborators. When there is synergy directly between the government and the people, for whose sake we all work, the effect is the greatest because people feel they are part of this process and perceive the end result as their own result".
Mikhail Men, Minister of Construction, Housing, and Utilities: "Facilities that people and not officials need began to appear in our towns and villages. During the implementation of previous programs, it often happened that people wanted an embankment and not a fountain".
In fact, residents of small towns used to be cut off from modern medical care. The situation is changing.
Vladimir Putin: "We expanded the program County Doctor to small towns with populations up to 50,000 people. Importantly, support will be provided not only to doctors but also to paramedics that come to these places to work".
And maybe then, the inhabitants of small towns will no longer need to go to work in large cities.
Svetlana Stavitskaya, head of Uglich: "We want our citizens to stop leaving to big cities. We want the life in small towns to become not just comfortable but also prestigious".
It’s planned to allocate additional 5 billion rubles for the small towns development. To get a grant, towns will have to take part in the All-Russian competition. It’s of fundamental importance that money isn’t lost on the way.
Vladimir Putin: "I was surprised to learn that the money allocated to the regions was distributed among the heads of the regions. I was told so. But small towns and historical settlements received almost nothing. This is quite strange. I ask you to make appropriate decisions, think about it and make this distribution just. Mr. Men spoke of additional 5 billion. And some colleagues have already started dividing these 5 billion. As far as they've already started divvy it up, let's not fail and let's allocate additional 5 billion roubles. but this money must go to small towns and historical settlements directly".
The Golden Ring cities, which will soon receive their own symbols, a recognizable brand, will look in a completely different way. In addition, there’ll be another tourist route in Russia similar to the Golden Ring. It’ll be called the Silver Necklace. It’ll unite the unique places of the north-west of the country.
Alexei Petrov, Alexandra Terpugova, Victor Prikhodko, Vladimir Averin, Vesti, the Moscow Oblast.