This year Vitebsk oblast hospital will get the region’s first heart-lung apparatus, the chief doctor of the Vitebsk oblast clinical hospital, Viktor Ovchinnikov, told BelTA. The device will allow conduct surgeries on open heart, Viktor Ovchinnikov said. The purchase of the equipment is envisaged in the programme aimed at developing the regional cardio-centres and will be financed by the national budget. Viktor Ovchinnikov noted that Vitebsk doctors regularly perform closed heart surgeries. The surgeons of the hospital have passed training courses on open heart surgeries in the republican scientific and practical centre “Cardiology” and abroad. According to the Vitebsk oblast statistics department, heart problems remain the main cause of mortality in the region. Heart disease is the cause of death in every third case among people in productive age.