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Samara Regional Clinical Oncological Dispensary made into the top exporters of Volga Federal District in the field services.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The high competence of healthcare workers, European standards of diagnosis and treatment and availability of high-tech equipment, allow Samara Regional Clinical Oncological Dispensary (GBUZ SOKOD) to provide high quality medical care to the residents of Volga Federal District as well as to the residents of other regions of the Russian Federation and foreign nationals. Andrey Orlov, MD, PhD, chief physician of Samara Regional Clinical Oncological Dispensary, chief freelance specialist in oncology of Samara Region Ministry of Health, tells about the medical institution and its growth strategy.

—The oncological dispensary has been operating since 1940, when the first 25 beds were opened based on the gynecological hospital with the medical staff consisted of 5 doctors. Since 2009, the dispensary has been located in a new building in a park area on the left bank of the river Volga, at the foot of the Sokoli Mountains. All areas of medical activity have been implemented and are being developed in the dispensary — from preventive programs, treatment of all localization of malignant tumors to rehabilitation programs and palliative care.

The structure of the dispensary includes outpatient unit for 1.5 thousand visits per day, 37 medical and diagnostic departments, inpatient unit for 750 beds, an operating unit where up to 60 operations are daily performed. Every year, more than 40 thousand people are treated in the dispensary; up to 25 thousand surgical interventions of various complexity are performed, including extended, combined, reconstructive and organ-preserving operations, X-ray intervention procedures, endoprosthetics, radiofrequency and ultrasound ablation of primary and metastatic tumors. The radiotherapy departments use high-tech computer systems for treatment planning and monitoring, using the latest accelerators, performing brachytherapy, conformal, stereotactic irradiation. All types of chemotherapy are carried out on an outpatient and inpatient basis. The oncological dispensary is equipped with expert-class diagnostic equipment for performing all types of diagnostics: ultrasound, endoscopic, radioisotope, computer and magnetic resonance imaging, laboratory diagnostics. All services of the dispensary are united by a single computer medical network.

A team of professionals broaden the boundaries.

The oncological dispensary employs more than 1800 employees, including 327 doctors and 689 nurses. Among them there are 3 Honored Doctors of the Russian Federation, 8 Doctors of Sciences, 37 Candidates of Sciences. The doctors of the dispensary are members of many professional Russian and international societies and associations: Association of oncologists of Russia (AOR), European (ESMO), American (ASCO) Societies of oncologists and others. SOKOD is the training base of Samara State Medical university (SamSMU), where the department of oncology is located, as well as branches of ENT, traumatology and orthopedics, radiology, surgery, anesthesiology and resuscitation, pathology departments. Employees of SOKOD, who also work as the medical university staff members, teach students and train doctors in frame of further training courses and courses in frame of continuous medical education. SOKOD was one of the first among the oncological institutions of the Russian Federation who more than 5 years ago received, and this year confirmed the high level of medical care with the ISO 9001:2015 quality certificate. For conformation of conformity of international standards for the treatment of international patients, the dispensary has passed the audit of the German Oncological Society Onkozert. This year SOKOD became the winner of the of the All-Russian award "Exporter of the Year" in Volga Federal District.

The dispensary, being a specialized medical, scientific, and methodological center, serves as a base for the development of advanced technologies and provision of specialized anticancer treatment not only in Volga Federal District, the Russian Federation, but also in the countries of the near and far abroad. The promotion of medical tourism is one of the priorities of the oncological dispensary. The number of patients coming to SOKOD from other regions of the country has increased by 25% in the last few years. Annually more than 4 thousand people from other countries and regions of Russia apply for outpatient and inpatient care.  89% of them are patients from Volga Federal District (Orenburg Region - 73%,  Penza Region - 10%,  Ulyanovsk region - 9%,  Saratov region - 6%, etc.). Residents of Siberia and the northern regions (Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs, Tyumen Region, Komi and Yakutia, Krasnoyarsk Territory), as well as Moscow and Moscow Region, Dagestan, Krasnodar Territory and other regions of Russia come for diagnosis and treatment. In 2020, SOKOD provided diagnostic and treatment services to foreign citizens  from Kazakhstan - 68%, Azerbaijan - 6%, Uzbekistan - 11%, Tajikistan - 5%, Kyrgyzstan - 4%, Armenia - 3%, Ukraine - 1%, Georgia - 1% and others.

Today, the oncological dispensary has all the opportunities to provide all types of medical care at the level of European standards.

The main direction- is to increase the availability and quality of medical care.

The increase in the number of oncological diseases is due to many socio-economic conditions and is common for all developed countries. Reducing the number of cancer cases and increasing life expectancy – are priorities of Russian healthcare. Within the framework of the national project "Healthcare", a regional target program has been implemented in Samara Region since 2019 –"Fight against oncological diseases". The oncological service of the region uses maximum of the great opportunities, provided by the participation in the national project "Healthcare". One of the main criteria — the five-year survival rate - increased from 52.3% to 59.9%. Increasing the awareness of population about the risk factors for cancer and treatment options allows to change the attitude of the population to oncological diseases. With the help of modern diagnostic and therapeutic equipment, oncologists in the region increase the availability and quality of medical care. The dispensary is actively updating its fleet of medical equipment. Over 2 years of the program, in 2019-2020, more than 100 units were purchased for the dispensary. So, the devices for radiation therapy have been updated with the possibility of applying the radiosurgery technique with the "cyberknife" function. Now all patients who needs this type of treatment do not need to go to federal centers: treatment is available in the region. This year, about 40 new diagnostic and therapeutic devices will be added to the arsenal. Thanks to the national project, it is possible to carry out personalized anticancer therapy using modern targeted and immunological drugs based on molecular genetic studies. 

Priority - early diagnosis.

To identify cancer at the 1-2 stage and start timely treatment is one of the key tasks of the oncological service of the region. But it is difficult to implement this without reorganization, first of all, the primary health care unit. One of the main factors in increasing accessibility is reducing the time of examination for diagnosis. For early diagnosis and timely treatment, outpatient cancer care centers (CAOP) are opened in the region, they are already functioning on the basis of 4 medical institutions (2 in Samara, 1 in Togliatti, 1 in Syzran). By 2024 12 CAOPs are planned to be opened in the region. For more than 80 years of its history, Samara Regional Clinical Oncology Dispensary, thanks to its professional staff, achievements and quality of medical care, has earned the trust and respect of patients.