Picture of the day: a digest of the main news from October 29, 2025
Main
The bill on mandatory work-related training for medical school graduates was heavily criticized during its first reading in the State Duma. As a result, deputies have already prepared over 40 amendments by the second reading. Among the adjustments approved by the Ministry of Health are clarification of the mentoring period, the introduction of a list of specialties that will affect the work-related training period, and a general change to the categories of graduates covered by the new regulations. However, the regulator did not address the issue of fines, which had sparked particular criticism from deputies. The amount of penalties has remained unchanged for now. Vademecum's review details how the initiative has been transformed.
The Russian Ministry of Health has approved an order with an updated procedure for providing medical care to children in the ophthalmology specialty. This document replaces a similar regulation from 2012. The updated procedure applies to medical organizations of all types. Among the new provisions are the possibility of emergency medical evacuation of children to non-specialized clinics, the application of clinical guidelines and standards in providing care, and the division of medical organizations into three groups to determine the conditions and availability of treatment for children.
Pharmaceutical business
The Moscow Arbitration Court heard Pharm-Sintez's claim against the distributor Primapharm for 552.7 million rubles due to the use of documents and a registration certificate for Myelanix (lenalidomide) when concluding a state contract with the Federal Center for Prevention and Prevention of the Population of the Russian Federation. While fulfilling its obligations, Primapharm, citing the risk of the declared drug being unavailable on the market, adjusted the contract terms and supplied the customer with Pharmasyntez's lenalidomide. The court found Pharm-Sintez's claims unfounded and rejected them. Last year, the company attempted to compel the distributor to fulfill the order according to the originally stated terms through arbitration. The first two courts upheld the plaintiff's position, but the cassation court and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation overturned these decisions.
Digitalization
The digital medical platform "Health," developed by Rostelecom Group's specialized division, has been included in the Russian Ministry of Health's registry of information systems under the status of "Other Information System." The resource will be able to connect with services at various levels, including the Unified State Health Information System (EGISZ), the Unified Identification and Authentication System (ESIA), and the Enterprise Health Information System (MIS).
Career
Deputy Minister Alexey Konovalenko assumed the duties of Acting Minister of Health of the Krasnoyarsk Krai on October 29. He has held the position since September 2025. Prior to this, Konovalenko served as Deputy Director and Head of the Department for the Organization and Modernization of Compulsory Medical Insurance (TFOMS) of the Krasnoyarsk Krai.
Artificial intelligence
Researchers from Germany, Canada, and the United States tested the ability of modern large-scale language models to provide personalized recommendations for longevity and age-related disease prevention. Using biomarker data and virtual clinical scenarios, analysts assessed the accuracy, completeness, and safety of responses from seven popular systems. It was found that AI generally generates safe but overly cautious recommendations, often inferior in informativeness and practicality to medical standards. According to the authors, without expert review, such models are not yet ready for use in longevity medicine.
International agenda
American company Eli Lilly announced the creation of the world's most powerful specialized supercomputer in collaboration with tech giant NVIDIA. The device will power an "AI factory," accelerating the deployment of innovative drugs and making them available to more patients. The company clarified that the NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD supercomputer, powered by DGX B300 systems, is the world's first device of its kind capable of collecting data and training AI models to perform high-performance inference.
Other news:
A medical clinic space is being auctioned off in Moscow for 86 million rubles.
Thermo Fisher plans to buy a drug software provider for $9.4 billion.
ChatGPT showed significant improvements in mental health conversations.
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