Russia to push medical science development

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MOSCOW, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved a development strategy for the country's medical sciences during the next 12 years, officials said.

The plan sets a goal of modernizing 50 percent of the country's laboratories and all its clinical facilities by 2025 and bringing more young professionals into the field, a release on the government's website said.

"The main aim of the strategy is to deliver development in medical sciences, aiming at creating high-tech innovative products that secure and strengthen the population's health, through the transfer of innovative technologies to practical healthcare," said the statement, as reported by RIA Novosti Friday.

The focus will be on a number of areas including the creation of preclinical research centers built to international standards and the establishment of high-tech research centers at the country's leading universities, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said.

Skvortsova has been critical of the country's medical sector for not capitalizing on the financial and human resources at its disposal and for isolating itself from the international professional community, RIA Novosti said.