Moscow, December 21, 2017
Photo: www.diaconia.ru His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow again this year asked that, in lieu of flowers for his November 20 birthday, all parishes of Moscow and the Moscow region allocate funds for the Orthodox St. Alexis Hospital, reports the site of the Synodal Department for Charity and Social Services.
The patriarch made the same request last year.
In total, 1,735,650 rubles ($29,680) were collected, which, along with other charitable funds, went towards the purchase of a much-needed shock-wave apparatus for the hospital’s physical therapy department, which cost 2,691,756 rubles ($46,029).
Last year, about 2.5 million rubles ($42,750) were transferred by Moscow churches to the hospital’s account, which was used for purchasing medical equipment for supplying medical oxygen for artificial ventilating lungs during surgical operations and in resuscitation units.
“Many of the patients in our hospital are elderly and people of an older generation, suffering from sharp chronic and recurrent pain in the shoulder and lumbar zone and disorders of the musculoskeletal apparatus, who need physical therapy,” chief doctor Alexei Zarov said, explaining the purchase of the Duolit shock-wave therapy machine.
The Hospital of St. Alexis the Metropolitan of Moscow is the Russian Orthodox Church’s largest medical institution, able to accommodate up to 275 patients. Every year the doctors see about 20,000 patients from all regions of Russia, regardless of religious affiliation. All treatment is free of charge. In addition to paid medical staff, there are currently 50 volunteers working in the hospital.
