Dmitry Medvedev’s speech at a meeting of the Academic Council:

Good afternoon, friends and colleagues. Today, Makhachkala is hosting a meeting of the Government Commission on the Socio-Economic
Development of the North Caucasus Federal District. This meeting is dedicated to education and healthcare, so I simply had to drop by and congratulate you on the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Dagestan State Medical Academy. I would like to wish you, the entire faculty, the Academy’s Academic Council and, naturally, all the students, every success. I hope that all your graduates will find useful employment because the North Caucasus is developing rapidly, and there are a lot of challenges, including in terms of healthcare provision, which we will be discussing today. But most importantly, what we need are skilled specialists and doctors to provide medical services here, in other parts of Dagestan and in other regions of our vast country. So, please once again accept my congratulations. I hope that the next 80 years will prove even more successful than the ones that have passed since 1932.

I have a proposal: If anyone has any questions or would like to say a few words about the development of medicine and the development of medical education please do so. The leaders of the republic, the Healthcare Minister, the Education Minister, not to mention the people whom all of you already know, are present here. Please accept my congratulations once again.

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