Russia’s Defence Ministry has opened a new military hospital in Makhachkala with a capacity for 150 patients.
The opening ceremony was attended by State Secretary and Deputy Defence Minister Anna Tsivileva, Daghestani Head Sergei Melikov, Acting Commander of the Southern Military District Lieutenant General Vladimir Kochetkov, and Commander of the Caspian Flotilla Rear Admiral Oleg Zverev.
The complex was built by the Defence Ministry’s Military Construction Directorate on the shore of the Caspian Sea.
The hospital consists of 11 buildings and is equipped with modern medical technology, including a hyperbaric chamber, which, according to the ministry, allows treatment of Caspian Flotilla servicemen suffering from barotrauma. The facilities include surgical, therapeutic, dermatovenereological, and dental departments, as well as units for functional diagnostics, physiotherapy, and medical rehabilitation.
According to Russian authorities, a distinctive feature of the new facility is the presence of paediatric and gynaecological departments, where not only servicemen but also their family members can receive medical care.
During the opening ceremony, Melikov thanked the Defence Ministry and military contractors for implementing the project. On the hospital grounds, busts were installed in honour of four military doctors from the Southern Military District who were killed while participating in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Defence Ministry, the hospital has already admitted its first patients — soldiers from the war in Ukraine undergoing treatment and rehabilitation. During her visit, Tsivileva inspected the operating theatres, intensive care, and diagnostic departments, spoke with the wounded, and presented state and departmental awards to soldiers.
In a comment to the Defence Ministry’s TV channel Zvezda, Tsivileva said that one of the ministry’s priorities remains staffing hospitals with military doctors. She noted that the ministry is implementing a recruitment programme that includes housing construction and the creation of modern infrastructure.
‘We discussed the issue of housing so that young doctors could come here from other regions and stay to work. The climate, the conditions, the modern equipment — all of this contributes to development, but the housing issue remains very painful’, she said.
The head of the new hospital, Colonel Arkady Smolnikov, said that cooperation with medical universities and departments is planned, which, in his words, ‘will make the hospital a military clinical institution’.
Tsivileva added that the opening of the Makhachkala hospital is part of a programme to create a network of modern military medical institutions across Russia. According to her, the ministry’s priority remains forming ‘a full-fledged system of medical support for participants in the special military operation and their families’, which should provide ‘fast and high-quality assistance without unnecessary bureaucracy’.
Tsivileva did not specify how much funding was allocated for the construction of the facility or how many such hospitals are planned to be opened in the future.
After visiting Makhachkala, Tsivileva held a meeting with the command of the ‘South’ military grouping and the leadership of the Caspian Flotilla, and then travelled to Vladikavkaz, where she inspected the construction of another 300-bed hospital. Its commissioning is planned for 2026.
Elizaveta Chukharova
