Oleg Belozerov, President of Russian Railways, and Kazuo Futagawa, Japan’s Deputy Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, have signed an agreement on the preparation of a feasibility study for the creation of a Japanese-Russian centre for preventive medicine and diagnostics.

The parties agreed to prepare an economic model for the establishment of a medical centre on the basis of the Russian Railways’ Clinical Hospital in Khabarovsk, which is about 800 kilometres north of Vladivostik in Russia’s Far East.

The centre’s medical concept includes the creation of a diagnostic, preventive and rehabilitation unit, as well as a telemedicine centre for remote consultations and video conferencing with Japanese specialists.

The parties intend to combine the best Russian and Japanese preventive healthcare and diagnostics practices and improve the quality of medical care in the Far Eastern region.

Representatives of the parties - the Central Directorate of Health, a branch of Russian Railways, and Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare - will continue to work together on developing the project’s key financial indicators and selecting an investment partner.

In December 2016, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between Russian Railways and Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in the field of medicine and health. The parties expressed their intention to contribute to increasing the length of healthy lives for Russian and Japanese citizens and agreed to undertake the necessary efforts to achieve progress in this area, in particular, to promote preventive medicine in the Russian Far East, including Khabarovsk.

(Source: RZD)