Urologists, nephrologists and andologists from Moldova and other states, such as Romania, Italy, Russia, Ukraine and Germany, are taking part in the seventh Congress of Urology, Dialysis and Kidney Transplant that is held in Chisinau during June 19-21. The over 200 specialists from the country and abroad present different aspects and tendencies in these fields, IPN reports.

According to professor Adrian Tănase, president of the Society of Urologists of Moldova, urology in Moldova has advanced essentially during the past few years owing to the implementation of endoscopic and minimally invasive procedures that considerably improved the specialty statistical results. “The dialysis service in the country has expanded following the launch of the public – private partnership project in dialysis, which enabled to open new centers with advanced equipment. Kidney transplant operations continued to be performed in accordance with the national program launched by the Transplant Agency,” stated the professor.

Secretary of the Society of Urologists, professor Emil Ceban said 5% to 10% of the country’s population suffer from an urological disease and urolithiasis is the most spread disease. Three European lecturers who came to the congress will speak about contemporary disease diagnosis and treatment methods.

In order to align the dialysis service to the high-quality European standards, a public-private partnership was established in Moldova five years ago, represented by the company BB-Dializă. In the congress, doctors presented the results of the activity of the Dialysis Centers opened by the private company. BB-Dializă director general Dmitry Onufreiciuc said this event is of special importance to specialists and to the dialysis service in general as it implies the exchange of experience with specialists who came from abroad. The public-private partnership project to develop the dialysis service proved its efficiency and will be continued.

According to Petru Cepoida, medical director of the Center of Excellence in Dialysis Services, said the first dialysis in Moldova were performed in the 1960s and the first dialysis section was set up in 1980. After Moldova declared its independence, there were created a number of dialysis centers, but in 2010-2011 these started to be unable to cope. The centers had to be optimized and modernized and this was done under the public-private partnership. The first BB-Dializa center was opened in Chisinau in 2016. Initially, it served 48 patients, but its capacity now grew to 430, which is 2/3 of all the patients in the country.

Petru Cepoida said the Balti BB-Dializă Center was opened last spring. This is outfitted with 32 modern dialysis machines and can serve over 200 patients with chronic renal insufficiency. Two more dialysis centers are to be inaugurated this year, at the Emergency Medicine Institute in Chisinau at the start of July and in Cahul at the end of July.

The event is organized by the Society of Urologists of Moldova, the Urology and Surgical Nephrology Department of the State University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Nicolae Testemițanu” and the Clinic of Urology, Dialysis and Kidney Transplant of the National Clinical Hospital “Timofei Moșneaga”.

On June 19, the congress centered on nephrology, while on June 20 on urology. On June 21, the European Urology School will teach an educational course on urology.