In Kalmykia, initiative group asks US President to take jurisdiction over children's hospital in Elista

The initiative group "Hospital – for children!" urged residents of Kalmykia to start collecting signatures under the collective letter to US President Barack Obama to take jurisdiction over the only Republican Children's Hospital in the region.

On June 16 the action "Hospital – for children!" was announced in the Internet at the forum of the Republic of Kalmykia. The action's initiative group drew attention of the region residents to the tight situation of the children's hospital.

"We do not know the entire truth about the allocated and spent money to the hospital repair, but we know that no provisions were made for these purposes in the federal and republican budgets. They are shot of money," stated the initiative group's appeal.

The initiators of the action offered all residents of the republic to send individually and collectively a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev with a request to provide targeted financial assistance for the hospital repair.

In late June Vladimir Shovunov, Minister of Health and Social Development of Kalmykia, said that negotiations for the inclusion of reconstruction of the republic's only specialized children's medical institution in the federal programmes have failed. This fact prompted the initiative group members to start collecting signatures for a collective letter to Obama to take jurisdiction over the children's hospital.

The letter states: "In conditions of total corruption, theft and mercilessness, that flooded Russia, we, the people of Kalmykia, completely disappointed in the ability of Russian and republican authorities to solve this problem, being extremely concerned and worried about our children, ask you, as a defender of democracy and human rights throughout the world, to take your jurisdiction over the Republican Children's Hospital and to assist Kalmykia in completing the repair of the Republican Children's Hospital."

"I do not think it helps," said Nina Potapkina, a resident of Elista city, about this, and continued: "It is a kind of despair gesture and reproach to our authorities."