Vatican and Russian children’s hospitals join forces

By Linda Bordoni

On the day Pope Francis received the Russian President in audience in the Vatican, a Holy See communiqué revealed details of a “Memorandum of Understanding” jointly signed by the Vatican’s “Bambino Gesù” Children’s Hospital and the Russian Federation’s Health Ministry.

The communiqué said the Memorandum aims to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the field of medical care and scientific research.

The agreement provides for the development of specific projects that will directly involve the “Bambino Gesù” Hospital and Russian health facilities.

Signatories of Memorandum

The memorandum was signed on Thursday afternoon the “Bambino Gesù” headquarters in Rome by Father Paolo Borgia, Assessor for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, and by Veronika Skvortsova, Minister of Health of the Russian Federation.

Visit to hospital research laboratories

Accompanied by Mariella Enoc, President of the “Bambino Gesù” Hospital, the Russian Minister and her delegation visited the hospital’s research laboratories. During the visit they were informed of some of the Rome team’s most innovative techniques and areas of research, including advanced genetic research and the development of cell therapies for the treatment of leukaemia.

“Bambin Gesù” already active in Russia

The statement notes that the Vatican Children’s Hospital is already active in Russia with specialized training programmes in neurology and neurosurgery for medical staff of the Morozov Children's Hospital in Moscow and at the Moscow Research and Clinical Center for Neuropsychiatry with projects to develop protocols for the diagnosis and treatment of children with epilepsy.