Medvedev hails idea of comprehensive medical checkups of teenagers

As the president met on Friday with the leading pediatricians of the world who are taking part in the 4th world congress of children's doctors in Moscow, the director of the Child Health Center under the Russian Academy of Medical Science, Alexander Baranov, voiced the proposal for launching a special program for the problems of teenagers' health and for a "wholesale and comprehensive medical examination of teenagers."

"As far as the comprehensive and thorough medical examination is concerned, it requires no special arguments in its favor. We should give thought to how to make it a reality within the tightest deadlines," Medvedev said. "The more so, since we have the Soviet experience to rely on. There was such a thing in those days. On the other hand, the technique of such examinations was different. If we are to introduce the overall examination by specialists, this must be done at a different technological level."

Baranov believes that the program for addressing the problem of teenagers' health must be implemented over three years, four at the latest.

"Conditions vary. Checkups in Moscow and checkups in district centers are still very different. The standards are to be equalized, more equipment provided and medical technologies advanced," Medvedev said; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.itar-tass.com for full version.