'Military hospital is returning to Kazan': construction launched by Sergey Shoygu
Its construction takes a maximum of two years
On 27 August, Russian Minister of Defence Sergey Shoygu laid a symbolic stone on the construction site of a new military hospital in Kazan. The guest promised that he would have “the cutting-edge level” both in construction and medicine. The first stage of the hospital with 150 beds is planned to be completed by the end of next year, and it will have been fully completed by the end of 2023. “Nothing hinders” the fulfillment of this task: thanks to the assistance of the authorities of the republic, the issue of connecting communications has already been resolved. The Kazan military hospital will become a pilot one. Such medical institutions under the auspices of the ministry of defence will subsequently be replicated throughout the country.
Cutting-edge level
On 27 August, the ceremony of laying the first stone in the construction of the new military hospital was held in Kazan on a vacant lot near Orenburgsky Tract — next to the republican hospitals: adult and children's. The minister of defence personally launched the construction. However, the event was purely symbolic. The works on the construction site of impressive scale are already in full swing. A huge pit was dug, at the bottom of which workers were busy.
On the surface, not far from the pit, KAMAZ trucks and excavators were lined up in a clear row. Naturally, the construction site is military! And the work done is obvious: mountains of seized land rise nearby. The entourage was complemented by construction cranes. The arrival of the top person of the defence department added a note of solemnity: after all, it is not every day that a military band appears on construction sites and young cadets in festive uniforms line up in a row.
In a word, the construction site was living its own life. Moreover, it seemed that all actions were directed by someone invisible. Everything was so harmonious. Apparently, the specifics of army life are manifested in everything. So Sergey Shoygu, who appeared soon after, only had to say a welcoming word. He began with compliments to the host party, noting that the construction was launched in a wonderful place, where wonderful objects have been created for more than one year — in Tatarstan.
The minister of defence said that this is not their first hospital built. As it turned out, this year the department has commissioned additionally three hospitals. The previous year was quite special in this regard. As you know, builders in uniform, at the instruction of the president of the country, created anti-covid hospitals in the shortest possible time. “Life forced me," Sergey Kuzhugetovich succinctly described the exploits of his department in a military way.
Every cloud has a silver lining. During this time, military builders have developed technologies and techniques, according to which most objects are created today. Shoygu promised that cutting-edge technologies will be applied here not only in construction, but also in medicine: the equipment will be the most advanced. The training of personnel — doctors, medical staff — has already begun. In a word, everything is being done to achieve the set bar, so that “there is the highest level”. According to Shoygu, this corresponds to the standards of the ministry of defence and Tatarstan itself.
He thanked Rustam Minnikhanov for the prompt resolution of issues related to the construction of the hospital. “We are starting the construction, already having all the solutions for connecting communications. Nothing prevents the fulfillment of the task," the minister of defence stressed.
Military hospital is returning
In turn, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov called the laying of the stone “a significant day”: “Military hospital is returning to Kazan.” The former one, located in the Gorky Park area, was one of the oldest in Russia. We can say that it was founded by Peter I: in 1722, he issued a decree on the creation of a military infirmary in our city.
The president noted that this institution solved state tasks. In 1812, the military with the most difficult wounds was treated here. Then, in 1830 and 1840, patients with cholera. Not to mention the terrible time when the Great Patriotic War was going on and for many years after it. The luminaries of Russian medicine worked in the hospital, which served the entire Kazan Military District.
Nowadays, the military hospital in Kazan has ceased to exist: in 2012, by order of Minister of Defence Anatoly Serdyukov, it was disbanded. The ministry notes that the new hospital in Kazan was recommended to be built by the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation “against the background of many appeals from residents of Kazan”.
“The demand is huge," Rustam Minnikhanov also voiced a weighty reason in favour of the construction that has begun. He reminded that there are two medical universities in our city: there are specialists. He promised Sergey Shoygu to build this medical institution “in a timely manner, with good quality” and to staff it with best specialists. By the way, it will be intended for military personnel and their relatives not only of our republic, but of the entire district.
Example to follow
Sergey Sukhov, the acting head of the construction department of the public-legal Military Construction Company of the Russian Ministry of Defence for the Central Military District, told reporters about the details of the project. Military Construction Company is the general contractor of this large-scale construction. By the way, according to the ministry of defence, it cannot be bankrupted and all contracts are protected. The contractor, according to Sukhov, is “strong”: this is the company in Kazan — Ak Tash.
He said that this will be the first analogue facility, according to which all military hospitals in Russia will be built in the future. In a word, the Kazan hospital is conceived as a standard one: it is then “replicated” everywhere. “In fact, this is an analogue of the INFC in Novosibirsk, only in a more fortified form," he described, noting that the infectious unit was copied from there.
According to the project, the high-tech medical facility will include three main buildings, a checkpoint and auxiliary ones, such as a disinfection point, a medical gas station, etc. The third building will house an infectious diseases department with 30 seats with separate exits and an internal gateway, as well as disinfection unit and dining room. Moreover, the basements of the “infection” will be “dual-use”: they can be used both for household needs and, if necessary, as a shelter.
The building area of 1,25 hectares is due to sanitary and epidemiological standards. Besides, it is easy to divide the vast territory into separate functional zones. The construction site is surrounded by forest plantations. “This will have a beneficial effect on the recovery of patients," the general contractor company notes.
According to Sukhov, the construction will be in two stages. The state contract for the first one expires in December 2022. The second stage is planned for the end of 2023. But it is possible that the pace of construction will be accelerated. First, there will be an administrative and economic part, an infectious diseases clinic. Accordingly, the disinfection of cars for it. Two boiler rooms will also be installed, one of which will be autonomous.
The second stage includes the construction of a polyclinic department, ward and diagnostic centre with 120 beds. Interestingly, the main building of the military hospital with checkpoint No. 1 will be built last. This medical building will be connected by two covered passages to the second administrative and household building, where there will be a club with a library, conference hall for 200 seats, staff rooms, medical unit, nutrition unit and much more.
Sukhov did not name the cost of the hospital even approximately, referring to the state expertise of the estimate. But he promised that both military personnel and civilians will have the opportunity to be treated there. Compared to the existing ones, the Kazan hospital of the ministry of defence will be “more complete” due to high-tech equipment. Besides, the hospital will be included in the emergency response system of the Disaster Medicine Service. The wounded will be delivered by air if necessary.
It's good that the hospital will ever appear
“The former place for the hospital was ideal: it's city centre, after all” says Andrey Savelyev, the president of the Guild of Realtors of the Republic of Tatarstan. “It is clear that due to certain reasons, it is impossible to return there.” “But, first of all, it is good that the military hospital will be ever opened. For a long time, it was questionable whether it would appear at all. As a reserve officer, I myself have repeatedly visited the old hospital at the Gorky Park. So today's laying of the stone is an event with a plus sign," he notes.
Savelyev estimates the location of the future medical institution as good by at least two parameters. First of all, it is transport accessibility. It is located “not somewhere on the outskirts”: you can perfectly get there by bus, for example. The second is the proximity of the Republican Clinical Hospital. “It is also an important point: additional capacities and qualified medical care are nearby. I think there will be interaction between the two medical institutions," he listed the benefits.
The director of the central real estate agency Valeri, Valery Absalyamov, agrees with his colleague. He does not exclude that the hospital was “taken” outside the city on purpose: it is often difficult to park in the centre. Absalyamov also suggests that it is not by chance that they “loop” the military hospital with the Republican Clinical Hospital and Children's Clinical Hospital: “Several medical institutions in one place is good. A certain medical cluster is being created.”
In this case, the interlocutor of our publication reminds, there was no question of the cost of land. The choice of the new location for the ministry of defence hospital, he believes, is quite justified: “Transport accessibility is good, there are interchanges. Including convenient for nonresidents. And the environment in this area will be better than in the centre of Kazan.”
