Innovative Technologies – the modern paradigm of medicine

– Which of your projects do you find particularly significant?

– As an example, where all of the above is combined, I can cite the implementation in the shortest possible time of a complex project – the conversion of the building of a psycho-neurological hospital into a branch of an infectious diseases hospital with 500 beds in Almaty.  Medico-Innovative Technologies carried out medical and technological design taking into account the infectious profile, with the separation of flows into the “red” and “green” zones, starting from the reception area and ending with the department for decontamination of medical waste of the walk-through type.

 In the hospital, resuscitation departments were placed and equipped with modern equipment, a system of clean rooms, a PCR laboratory, a block of computed tomography, and bronchoscopy were created.   Patients are provided with oxygen due to its centralized supply.

 I can confidently call this project an example of successful and effective cooperation between state structures, namely the administration of Almaty and a team of professionals.  We turned out to be ready to implement such solutions, thanks to the experience of previous projects, of which there are currently at least 40 throughout Kazakhstan.

–  Mikhail Dmitrievich, let me touch on another important topic, especially since you mentioned it when talking about equipping COVID hospitals.  Now a draft law on biological safety has been developed.  In the medical field, this applies, among other things, to the disposal of medical waste. What can change in Kazakhstan with the adoption of this law?

– We started to study the situation related to the disinfection of medical waste in 2009.  The legislative bases of many countries, the experience of foreign clinics with high safety requirements were analyzed.

 Back in 2013, our company proposed a technological solution with a through-type sterilizer for the disinfection of medical waste using steam sterilization followed by grinding.  This method is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and highlighted by the UN as a priority for the disposal of medical waste, allowing you to qualitatively, reliably and safely transfer waste of class “B” and “C” to class “A” waste – epidemiologically safe and dispose of them in a general manner .

Today it has become especially important, our technology has been implemented in 28 projects.  In addition to placing the disinfection department in existing hospital buildings, where there are problems with a shortage of premises and the need for serious repairs, we have proposed a modern solution – placing them in prefabricated modular complexes.

The  “Medical Innovation Technologies” company has implemented and is at the stage of completion projects with disinfection modules in the cities of Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Aktau, Taldykorgan, Atyrau, Kostanay, Pavlodar, Zhezkazgan, Petropavlovsk, Uralsk, Turkestan, Kyzylorda.

I would like to share some news – our company has signed contracts for the installation of disinfection systems in 12 clinics in Almaty, including in the form of modular solutions.  This became possible as part of the implementation of the Action Plan to protect the life and health of city residents.

We look forward to closer cooperation with Kazakhstani government agencies, especially with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Ecology, as a number of organizational and regulatory issues need to be resolved.

 – COVID-19, with its unpredictable course of the disease and short-lived, deadly pneumonia, has exposed the challenge of providing healthcare organizations with medical oxygen. In your opinion, what solution would be the most effective in this situation?

– Currently, modern medical institutions in Kazakhstan and abroad are actively using centralized systems based on the use of liquid oxygen.  Only the presence of liquid oxygen guarantees the doctor its high content – 99.5 percent. Not a single concentrator, and even more so an oxygen cylinder, will not provide this.

The company ” Medical Innovation Technologies ” offers comprehensive medical solutions for the creation of the “Medical gases” system, including expertise, assessment, design, staff training, installation of equipment to the end periphery, to the patient. Such systems are certified, they are convenient to use, they are reliable and safe, economical and durable.

We are increasingly convinced that this technology, using liquid oxygen supplied to each bed, can be considered the most promising, economical and correct from the point of view of medicine. Today, together with the Ministry of Industry, we are working on a roadmap for the supply of liquid oxygen to all clinics in Kazakhstan, where it is justified in terms of infrastructure, economy and logistics

– In the fight against coronavirus infection, in addition to anti-epidemic measures, the problems of its diagnosis using the PCR method have come to the fore. What is the uniqueness of your proposals?

– Our company not only equipped the laboratories with equipment, it designed them, developed optimal solutions in accordance with the available possibilities for their placement and taking into account infectious safety.  By the way, one such PCR laboratory (up to 1000 tests per day), fully equipped with everything necessary for work, was donated by the company to the «Paryz» foundation in the East Kazakhstan region.

Just as in the case of the medical waste decontamination system, we for the first time proposed PCR laboratories in modular complexes, which made it possible to save time and money for their opening. And this, as you understand, is very important for both the state and its citizens, especially in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Paying serious attention and making every effort in the fight against the pandemic, we should not forget about other problems related to human health.  As part of the healthcare development program for the East Kazakhstan region, we have recently implemented several innovative projects.

“Medical Innovation Technologies” company has completed a unique project to create a hybrid operating room on the basis of the Emergency Hospital in the city of Semey.  Many doctors in their work are faced with the need to conduct multi-stage complex treatment or solve several problems at once in one patient, requiring a multidisciplinary approach.  A comprehensive innovative solution in the form of a hybrid operating room makes such treatment not only possible, but also as accurate, safe and effective as possible.

The hybrid operating room accumulates advanced technological equipment that is used in neurosurgery, interventional cardiology, general surgery, traumatology, gynecology and other areas of medicine.  The complex is equipped with the DiscoveryIGS 730 angiographic system (GE Medical Systems), the Brainlab neurosurgical navigation system, the Haag-Streit Surgical (Moller-Wedel) operating microscope, the Karl Storz video endoscopic system and other models of world-class medical equipment manufacturers.  All equipment is integrated and controlled by a single system and can be used in various combinations. Patients got the opportunity for one-time, safe, minimally invasive, complex surgical treatment in a new operating room, which has no analogues in Kazakhstan.

In addition, another innovative solution has been introduced in the multidisciplinary Center of Oncology and Surgery (Ust-Kamenogorsk) – the technology of treatment with focused ultrasound under the control of magnetic resonance imaging (FUS MRI).  This technology for the treatment of uterine fibroids, adenomyosis, prostate cancer, bone metastases and primary bone tumors is implemented using a system for non-invasive ablation with focused ultrasound ExAblate 2100 InSightec, Ltd (Israel).

 The ExAblate InSightec system has won numerous awards as an innovative solution that can improve people’s lives. Time magazine in 2011 included it in the list of 50 most innovative solutions.  The uniqueness of the system lies in the combination of two solutions: a focused ultrasound energy platform that heats and destroys tumor tissue inside the body without damaging surrounding organs, and magnetic resonance imaging with real-time monitoring of tissue temperature during treatment.  The procedure is performed on an outpatient basis and is organ-preserving. The latter is important for maintaining reproductive function in women.

 FUS-MRI is a modern alternative to surgical treatment, it is a completely non-invasive, easily tolerated procedure that can be repeated several times if necessary, for example, in case of painful bone metastases.  Patients can return to their normal lifestyle the day after treatment. FUS-MRI technology creates a new treatment paradigm, in fact, a new form of surgery.

– Currently, the most advanced and high-tech solutions in the medical field are used in Kazakhstan.  Perhaps the degree of innovation in the health system is not so high.  What steps need to be taken so that unique equipment can be increasingly found in medical institutions and not only in the capital, and medical care becomes better and more affordable?

– I am convinced that our work has contributed to saving the lives and maintaining the health of thousands of Kazakhstanis. In many respects it became possible thanks to the modern equipment of new generation.  Of course, we would like the unique, high-tech equipment to be introduced into the medicine of Kazakhstan faster, and there are all prerequisites for this.

 In particular, our company has universal high-tech equipment for neurosurgery, ophthalmology and maxillofacial surgery from the world’s leading manufacturers.  A distinctive feature of the equipment is the possibility of a modular approach, taking into account the needs of the user for both individual operations and the whole complex of complex high-tech interventions.

 BRAINLAB navigation systems –  is an opportunity for the most accurate and gentle approach to neurosurgical treatment in a particular patient.  The system integrates all possible sources of visualization: an operating microscope, endoscope, ultrasound, X-ray, CT and other diagnostic preoperative and intraoperative studies, for the most safe and effective planning, monitoring and accurate performance of surgical interventions on the brain and spinal cord, in maxillofacial surgery.  The system is successfully used in hybrid operating rooms ( EMERGENCY HOSPITAL in Semey).

 The presence of different navigation platforms provides a choice for the clinic in accordance with its budget. In 2020, the CURVE navigation system was installed in the neurosurgical operating room of the Children’s City Clinical Hospital No. 2 in Almaty.

 The desire of our company to offer Kazakhstanis innovative medical solutions is supported by General Electric (GE) in the field of ultrasound diagnostics.  Innovative acoustic architecture and 3D navigation for high-precision minimally invasive interventions, with 3D/4D diagnostic capabilities and 170 percent more information in exams, this is only a small part of the technologies used in modern devices.

Today, ultrasound provides an unparalleled quality in assessing fetal health from an early stage of development. From outpatient clinics to advanced hybrid operating rooms, ultrasonic systems take their place, making the best ultrasound diagnostics available to patients.

 I believe that the introduction of innovative technologies and advanced equipment today acts as an external motivator, stimulates the doctor to do his job at a high level, to show his personal skills and competence.

 The introduction of innovative technologies requires constant professional development from doctors. Our company attaches great importance to training, as part of the implementation of projects, training of doctors and technical personnel is mandatory.  In addition, we already have experience in creating simulation centers and plan to develop this area in the future. The practice of many countries shows that simulation centers are able to improve the professionalism of doctors to an expert level.

 An important direction for the development of the professional level of doctors, I consider the possibility of exchanging experience and knowledge at various sites.  In this regard, our company regularly supports the holding of professional conferences, medical congresses and other events.  This year, given the situation with the pandemic, the Kazakh Research Institute of Oncology and Radiology and the Association of Oncologists of Kazakhstan successfully held an international conference “Oncology of Kazakhstan. Yesterday, today, tomorrow” in an online format. We are pleased that we were able to support this important event.

– Mikhail Dmitrievich, we know that not so long ago you donated 400 books by Kazakh authors in Kazakh, Russian and English to one of the American libraries.  The media wrote that this project was implemented by the Consulate General of Kazakhstan in San Francisco with the assistance of the foundation «Otandastar» and the participation of Stanford University professor Alma Kunanbayeva.  Tell us more about this story, what does it mean for you and your family?

–  All modern solutions are born on the basis of fundamental research, knowledge and traditions. There is no future without a past.

Yes, the coronavirus closed the borders, divided the countries, left us the opportunity to maintain relations at the level of calls, letters, made our relations “electronic”.  We felt how important our roots are, our connection with places of power, and books, paper traditional books, become a very powerful source of pure energy, spirituality.

 During the Patriotic War, our family was evacuated from Ukraine to Kazakhstan, to the village of Karabulak, Almaty region.  We and thousands of similar refugees who lost almost everything, hungry and frightened, were saved by the generous Kazakhstani land and the people who lived and worked on it.  My relatives, by the way, lived for four years with an ordinary Kazakh family, who shared their house, food and everything we needed with us. Later, my mother graduated from the Medical University in Almaty, and my uncle managed to work at the Polytechnic University as the head of the Department of Thermal Physics.

The warm kindred attitude towards us from the side of the Kazakh people was forever deposited in the family memory.  That is why the fact that I was involved in the opening of the department of Kazakh literature in the San Francisco Main Public Library, one of the main book depositories of the West Coast of the United States, I consider nothing less than a tribute to the entire Kazakh people.

 The transfer of 400 books of works by Kazakh poets, prose writers and scientists, such as Abay, Chokan Valikhanov, Shakarim, Mukhtar Auezov, gave readers the opportunity to study the great Kazakh writers and thinkers in Kazakh, Russian and English.  For my part, I would like to once again express my gratitude to the staff of the Consulate General of Kazakhstan in San Francisco, representatives of the foundation «Otandastar» and Stanford University for giving me the opportunity to take part in this great and outstanding event for US-Kazakh diplomatic and scientific relations, which became significant for all my family.

 The year is coming to an end. Of course, it was not easy, but it showed us the importance of family values, friendship, mutual understanding, support, and responsiveness. In the new year, I want to wish everyone health, prosperity and optimism.