During his visit to the hospital, Vladimir Putin was shown a room where doctors can engage in teleconferences with colleagues – doctors in municipal clinics and specialists in federal hospitals. Thus, difficult cases do not necessarily have to be brought to central hospitals to be examined by top specialists.

Mr Putin also visited the ICU and operating rooms equipped with modern medical equipment.

During the inspection of the hospital, the prime minister spoke highly of the exceptional results achieved there. "This is a good example of how the modernisation of health care affects a hospital's work and its ability to help people," said Mr Putin.

The Ivanovo Regional Hospital encompasses 31 clinical departments and diagnostic centres equipped with modern medical equipment. Every year, more than 30,000 patients receive treatment there and nearly 20,000 operations are performed.

Since 2007, the hospital has had an open heart surgery and interventional cardiology centre, rendering high-tech medical care in cardiovascular surgery. Before the centre opened, the region was registered among those with the highest incidences of cardiovascular disease in Russia, and now deaths from heart attacks in the region have dropped by 25%. In 2008, the hospital opened a regional centre for the treatment of patients with vascular diseases. Over the past two years, specialists from the clinic saved the lives of more than 2,500 people.

In 2010, a top-level trauma centre opened at the hospital to provide medical care to victims of traffic accident. As a result, thanks to the improved organisation of labour, deaths from traffic accidents decreased by nearly 67% in the first eight months of 2010.