OREANDA-NEWS. Metalloinvest held its medical conference in Gubkin on 13-14 November. The conference's topic was "Cooperation between the employer and regional medical organisations in the area of employee healthcare. Issues and solutions."

Representatives of regional social and compulsory medical insurance funds; the Research Institute of Occupational Health affiliated to the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (RAMS); the Institute of Healthcare Economics of the National Research University Higher School of Economics; healthcare departments of the Kursk and Belgorod regions; Metalloinvest's management and the Company's enterprises and subsidiaries engaged in healthcare participated in the event.

Julia Mazanova, Director of Social Policy and Corporate Communications of Management Company Metalloinvest, commented: "It is the first time that we have organised the medical conference in this format and on such a high level. Today, we are assessing the results of the Company's healthcare programmes and, most importantly, jointly with our partners - representatives of the national bodies and institutions - define the ways to make these programmes more efficient."

The conference participants discussed the development plans for employee healthcare programmes, which were adjusted to fit the needs of each of Metalloinvest's enterprises. The mandatory aspect for all programmes is an ongoing monitoring of employees' health. The programme provides for the use of the compulsory medical insurance and payments from the social insurance funds in order to increase the efficiency of employee treatment at medical centres and health resorts.

Nikolay Kalashnikov, Director of the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund of the Belgorod region, noted: "Today, the improvement in the quality of services is one of the priority tasks for state and private medical institutions. Private organisations, such as, for instance, Metalloinvest's medical centres, should provide services under the compulsory medical insurance programmes in order to increase their efficiency."

The event participants assessed the achievements of Metalloinvest's medical service, including specifically the results of the vaccinations. The vaccinations were held for the first time at all Metalloinvest's enterprises, enabling the Company to reduce the number of respiratory illnesses by 20%, compared to 2013.

Andrey Salnikov, Chief Medical Officer of Metalloinvest, commented: "The establishment of the medical service means the creation of a body in charge of the employee healthcare. We have been able to develop a comprehensive approach to planning and implementation of healthcare programmes at Metalloinvest. We undertake a thorough analysis of a wide range of factors in our planning, oversight activities and assessments of the efficiency of our healthcare and treatment programmes. This approach has enabled us to achieve a considerable reduction in sickness rates following vaccinations last year."

In 2015, the Company plans to implement a programme aimed at decreasing the prevelance of people with musculoskeletal problems and dysfunctions of the nervous system. The programme targets a 15% decrease in the sickness rate.

The next stage of Metalloinvest's medical serivce development is to create joint employee healthcare programmes jointly with the leading medical institutions and organisations, and to increase the efficiency of such programmes by involving the national healthcare system.