MedIn is a platform for strengthening science, industry and medical practices, creating an enabling environment for improving the quality of life and life expectancy of the population. MedIn 2019 SPIMPF is a complex event which covers many aspects of healthcare.

The opening ceremony for the Forum was united by several interconnected issues: staying healthy, diagnosis, evolution and affordable medicine, and the prevention of various diseases. Vladimir Kirillov, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg, welcomed participants on behalf of Alexandr Beglov, Governor of St. Petersburg, and emphasised that “innovative developments and the adoption of modern medical technologies in medical practice play an especially important role in modern medicine.” Dmitry Lisovets, a representative of the Health Committee of St. Petersburg, congratulated everyone on the opening of the first St. Petersburg International Medical and Pharmaceutical Forum: “I am glad that this event focuses its attention not only on the achievements of the medical industry, but also on disease prevention issues.” Larisa Kamanina, Acting Deputy Governor of Vologda Oblast, supported the previous speaker. She spoke on behalf of Governor of Vologda Oblast Oleg Kuvshinnikov, director of the Healthy Cities Association, noting that the cornerstone of public health development is the best new practices, innovative technologies and, of course, the Medical Forum itself.

The Medical industry exhibition occupied 2,500 m2 and allowed its visitors to become familiar with professional equipment, physiotherapy possibilities, innovative developments and how modern medical centers are equipped. At the exhibition, 57 development companies, manufacturers and suppliers of medical technologies, equipment, devices and medicines presented their latest achievements. At the stand for the Health Committee of St. Petersburg, with participation from the Medical Information and Analytical Center State Institute and the Cluster of Medical, Environmental Instrumentation and Biotechnology NPO, the progress of the national Health Care project was presented – these are city programmes for improving medical services and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

The specialised Territory of Health programme was presented as a fascinating interactive zone where anyone could make a meaningful contribution. It included several sections on healthcare topics. At the Fair for Products for Treatment and Wellness at Home, companies and entrepreneurs from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Pskov, the Udmurt Republic, and other Russian cities presented their products; the Health Space platform has become an area of medical care for the prevention and early detection of skin malignancies; at the Mobile vaccination center, Forum guests could be vaccinated against flu and SARS. In addition, there was an introduction to information about vacancies in medical institutions in the city and possible professional training in the field of healthcare at the consultation platform for the Employment Centre of St. Petersburg. Specialists from the S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy gave masterclasses for all participants and visitors, demonstrating their experience of using first aid in emergency situations.

The Get Active flashmob was organised at the Forum to enable active relaxation. It was led by Olympic handball champion Yury Nesterov and students from the Tsarskoye Selo Centre for Physical Culture and Health. It wasn’t just physical exercises, but also positive emotions, a cheerful mood and friendly company.

Forum visitors were particularly interested in the historical programme which featured the History of Russian Military Medicine banner exhibition. The content was presented in an interesting way; it was an unusual adventure and exhibition with images of the past, such as the spectacular and vivid character of a plague doctor.

The business programme was presented by the Medical St. Petersburg Congress, the Medical Tourism Conference and EMI’19 Forum of Medical Innovation.

A total of around 20 scientific and practical events for healthcare professionals, doctors of various specialties, and nurses took place within the Medical St. Petersburg Congress event, organised by the ANO “SoBytie” Center for the Support of Socially Significant Events. This consisted of conferences, seminars, roundtables and panel discussions about many aspects of medical science and practices. The Forum for Medical Innovation took place in a special interactive zone organised by the St. Petersburg Professional Association of Medical Professionals.

A plenary meeting was held on the topic of life expectancy and quality of life with the support of the St. Petersburg Health Committee where the WHO Healthy Cities project was a key theme. Professionals discussed the importance of environmental protection, ecology and healthy living.

According to Alexandra Konradi, Deputy Director General for Research of the Federal State Budgetary Institution, the Almazov National Medical Research Center, when developing the concept of healthy cities and public health, teamwork is very important. “In our opinion, for a locality to function as a truly healthy city, the concept of “partnership” must be maintained from control bodies to public organisations who are trying to solve something they have in common,” said Konradi.

Healthy Cities is a global World Health Organization project which was launched in 1998, interacting with all areas of life in a modern city. This international movement serves as an incentive for the development of cities seeking to improve the health of their residents. Tatyana Shestakova, Executive Director of the Russian Association of Healthy Cities, Regions and Villages, and coordinator of the Russian national network of the WHO Healthy Cities project, spoke about the project itself which is being implemented within the Russian Federation. “The main goal of our Association is to combine efforts and resources to create conditions for improving the health and quality of life of the population in Russian cities, regions and villages. We are striving to adhere to the following strategic directives: the growth of a healthy population through the creation and development of a single regional preventative space, the formation of healthy lifestyles and the creation of a healthy urban environment,” explained Shestakova.

On the 24th of October, the Medical Tourism Conference took place at Expoforum, dedicated to the development of the medical tourism segment in the Northern Capital and the competitiveness of medical services. The Conference was organised by the St. Petersburg Medical Tourism Agency. At the focus session entitled Current Issues of Implementing the Programme for the Export of Medical Services, Alexander Solonin, General Director of the SRO Association of Private Clinics of St. Petersburg, said that “a hospital type of medical institution was developing in the world, when the hospital is connected to a hotel, cafe and all the necessary functions are logically woven into the treatment complex. We currently do not have this in Russian, although measures are being taken and the need for change is recognised.”

During the Medical Tourism: Russia-China focus session, speakers shared practical cases in this specific area, discussed their experience with medical tourists from China, and highlighted some features of national medicine for tourists in Russia.

Li Pen, an acupuncturist at a clinic for traditional Chinese medicine, and Li Xiaoshuai, a therapist at the FuQiauo Clinic (Beijing), presented their views on the development of an acupuncture clinic in St. Petersburg. “I have worked here already for a year, and I have noticed that the effect of treatment using traditional medicine is doubled with the use of acupuncture,” said Li Pen.

In the programme of the Medical Tourism Conference there was also a panel discussion and master-class on acupuncture. As part of the exhibition of the MedIn 2019 St. Petersburg Medical and Pharmaceutical Forum, a collective 54 m2 stand of St. Petersburg was presented to demonstrate its achievements and promising programmes to create a unique tourism product based on the diagnostic, medical and resort infrastructure of St. Petersburg. The exhibition was organised by the Congress and Exhibition Bureau of the St. Petersburg Committee for the Development of Tourism.

At the end of the Forum, the results of the Competition for innovative solutions for healthcare were announced. The Competition was held to accelerate the commercialisation of scientific developments and to promote them in domestic and foreign markets. Contestants were awarded with diplomas and 9 medals. Gold medals were awarded to the Pavlov First State Medical University, St. Petersburg for its “Screening diagnostic system for early (pre-symptomatic) detection of oncological disease,” St. Petersburg; the Russian FPFIS Institute of FMBA Toxicology, St. Petersburg for “Innovative solutions for the validation of test equipment for preclinical studies of drugs;” Obereg LLC, Leningrad region for its “Obereg Window Filter”; Alkor Sarapul enterprise LLC, the Udmurt Republic, Sarapul for their “Hope” Respirator; Promobot LLC, Perm for thier Robot Medical Consultant Promobot v4; Chernyshevsky Saratov State University for their “Prototype support system for the adoption in reconstructive surgery of the vertebral-pelvic complex”; and Chernyshevsky Saratov State University for “A reference-adapter for the classification of fractures AO/ASIF and Spine.” The Silver Medal was awarded to the FSBEI of Higher Education “Chernyshevsky Saratov State University” for their SpinoMetr Mobile application for measuring and calculating the parameters of the sagittal balance of the spinal-pelvic complex.