The meeting took place in the National Centre for Crisis Management via videoconference.
On January 31, 2009 a fire at a home for elderly persons in Podyelsk (Komi Republic) killed 23 people. Previously, similar tragedies occurred in homes for the elderly in the Krasnodar Territory and Tula Region.
At a meeting in February this year, the President ordered a comprehensive inspection of social institutions.
In his introductory remarks at the National Centre for Crisis Management President Medvedev announced that there had been numerous safety violations in such facilities. Other shortcomings associated with the legal status of social institutions, their technical and medical equipment, and lack of personnel responsibility were also uncovered.
Mr Medvedev stressed that all those guilty of serious infractions should be brought to justice, including via criminal prosecution if necessary.
Dmitry Medvedev also noted that measures have been taken in response to recent information about the troubles in a nursing home in Yamm, Pskov Region. In particular, this information was supplied by a user of the President's LiveJournal blog.
Mr Medvedev considers that such problems can only be resolved by full cooperation between government agencies, local self-government bodies and volunteer organisations.
Before the meeting President Medvedev inspected the National Crisis Situation Management Centre established in 2006. It is a new generation, multilevel complex for operational management and emergency response in crises. It is also involved in crisis prevention and aftermath. By using the newest technologies the Centre is able to handle all kinds of information in real time, making use of global navigation satellite systems (GLONASS, GPS) and global monitoring technology based on remote sensing of the earth from space.