23 May RUSSIAN DELEGATION WORKING (“spring”) VISIT 2014, 4th – 8th June

Guests from Russia to Drenthe province:

– Mrs. Elena Stukalova, deputy head of administration Mytishchy region

– Mr. Valery A. Yanin, MD PhD, head of Mytishchy regional hospitals and policlinics

This visit had the objective to combine the municipal administration and the healthcare organisation related to our united Russian-Netherlands exchange in a single visit. So it was scheduled to invite a Russian delegation consisting out of the mayor of the Mytishchy Region (also a member of the DEMMA Committee of Recommendation) Mr. Victor Azarov together with the head of the assembled Mytishchy Region hospitals and policlinics Dr. Valery Yanin (since 1994 the DEMMA-M secretary). Unfortunately Mr. Azarov was faced with unexpected urgent local administrational matters. So he had to cancel his visit at the last moment. His deputy Mrs. Elena Stukalova took his place. The housing was based in the town of Emmen, where they stayed in the Hampshire hotel. To profit maximally of the time during this flashing working visit already in the late afternoon a meeting was scheduled in the town hall of Emmen with the mayor Mr. Cees Bijl, on the day of their arrival (4th of June). During this session a lot of information about municipal administrational matters was exchanged in a social and friendly atmosphere. The day after in the early afternoon a similar meeting with the mayor of the city of Assen Mrs. Carry Abbenhues was spent in the same way, where also Mr. Pieter Faber, connected to the municipality of Assen as economical advisor, participated in this meeting. He suggested being helpful in the future upon the issue of fund raising for DEMMA, by perhaps promoting local medical businesses from the Drenthe region in Mytischy. The same day (5th of June) that morning was spent making a round tour through the Scheper Hospital Emmen, including an interactive presentation giving detailed information on the Netherlands Healthcare system. Beforehand there was an official meeting with the head of the hospitals holding (Hoogeveen, Emmen and Stadskanaal) Mr. Erik Janson M.D., who proposed to tighten the ties with the Mytishchy healthcare organisation by supporting DEMMA foundation. In the late afternoon the delegation took the train from Assen to Groningen to pay a visit to the University Medical Center Groningen, to get an impression of a large academic medical centre in the Netherlands. Back again to Assen the day was concluded with an informal home dinner. The 6th of June the whole day spent in Emmen and surroundings with fully filled program with visits to educational institutes such as the Esdal College, the Stenden College, a primary school and to a centre for Public Health Organisation as well. In the evening the farewell dinner was provided for, with the traditional goodbye speeches. Since for Elena it was the first time in the Netherlands DEMMA on 7th of June she and Valery were offered an action-packed touristic one-day (and night) tour of Amsterdam with both the DEMMA honorary members as guides. June 8th was the departure day.

In summary we look back on a productive and interesting stay of our Russian guests. We dealt not only with medical issues but with municipal administrational and educational issues as well. It was made clear the close relationship between healthcare organisations and the (local and regional) administration in RU proved to be somewhat different compared with the situation in NL where the role of the health insurance companies is much more dominant.

Dr. Valery Yanin, Mrs Elena Stukalova and the mayor of Emmen Mr. Cees Bijl (r)

Mayor of Assen Mrs. Carry Abbenhues (l), Dr. Valery Yanin and Mrs. Elena Stukalova

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