The city is hosting the 15th Festival of National Cultures which has brought together 800 representatives of 42 ethnicities. The program features more than 100 events in the historic center of Grodno and at the Augustow Canal, with attendance expected to exceed 280,000. The head of state is expected to take part in the official opening ceremony of the festival. Before that, Aleksandr Lukashenko will attend the opening of Grodno Oblast Clinical Hospital. The president will hear a report on the completion of the construction, hospital’s equipment and a range of medical services it will provide.

The construction of the hospital began in 2024. In April 2024, Aleksandr Lukashenko visited the construction site and laid a capsule containing a message to future generations. «Caring for our children, grandchildren and all those who will continue our family line, all those who will come after us, is the essence of this moment and the very idea behind today’s event,» the president said.

During that visit, the head of state instructed builders to accelerate the project and complete it within a shorter time. As a result, the hospital was built in two years instead of the projected period of more than four years.

The new hospital was needed as part of the program to optimize bed capacity of two Grodno hospitals housed in old buildings that no longer met modern requirements. These were City Clinical Hospitals No. 2 and No. 3. The building of City Clinical Hospital No. 3 is being converted into Grodno Oblast Clinical Oncology Center with a capacity of 312 beds.

The new hospital, located on Yanka Kupala Avenue, has a capacity of 504 beds and replaces the bed space of the two older hospitals. It will operate in coordination with City Hospital No. 4, enabling more efficient use of healthcare resources and eliminating duplication of services. The facility will primarily house internal medicine departments.