On December 6, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The export of medical services will allow Belarus to develop high-tech medicine and provide citizens of the country with quality free medical care. This point of view was expressed in an interview with a BELTA correspondent by Yuri Derkach, Head of the Healthcare Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee. The growth rate of medical services export in the Vitebsk region for 11 months of the current year amounted to 200% compared to the same period last year. Medical institutions of the region provided services worth more than Br1 billion to foreign patients. A significant number of foreign patients are citizens of the Russian Federation, Lithuania, and Latvia. Most often, they seek help from cardiologists, proctologists, dentists, and obstetrician-gynecologists. For the convenience of foreign patients, a medical tourism bureau and a specialized website have been created in the region, where anyone can get acquainted with the register of medical services provided in the region and their cost. As Yuri Derkach noted, the export development was made possible by the renewal of the material and technical base, the acquisition of modern diagnostic and therapeutic equipment, and the mastery of the latest treatment technologies by doctors, which were previously used only in scientific and practical centers. Thus, a base has been created in the region for increasing the export of medical services, which will allow earning funds for the further development of the medical industry beyond standard social standards. Currently, medical institutions in the region are implementing 7 business plans. One of them, for example, concerns the purchase of high-tech equipment for the cardiology department of the regional hospital worth 90 million euros. A unique complex for invasive surgery will pay for itself within 1.5-2 years due to the fact that foreign patients will be able to use the new technologies on a paid basis. At the same time, such operations will be performed free of charge for Belarusian citizens. Given the demand of foreigners for certain types of medical care, the healthcare department intends to put into operation after renovation in the first quarter of 2011 rehabilitation centers for patients with heart and lung diseases in Braslav, Barani (Orshansky district), Postavy. For the first time in the region, a district dental clinic has started operating in Glubokoye, also designed to receive foreign patients. Next year, medical workers in the region intend to earn at least Br15 billion from the export of their services. -0-