Dagestani Ministry for Public Health responds to doctor's complaints about lack of masks and medicines

In the city hospital of Dagestanskiye Ogni, an official inspection of the chief physician has been launched to verify complaints of a medical officer, the Ministry for Public Health of Dagestan reported. At the medical institution, personnel work in home-made masks, and doctors have to pay their own money to purchase medicines and protective items, the hospital anaesthesiologist complains.

As of April 30, Dagestan was the leader among the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) in the absolute number of registered cases of the coronavirus infection. 1389 coronavirus-infected people were identified in the republic, and 12 patients died. Over 24 hours, the growth of new cases of the coronavirus infection amounted to 158 cases.

On April 30, a complaint to the President of Russia from Arthur Muradaliev, an anaesthesiologist-resuscitator of the Central City Hospital in Dagestanskiye Ogni, was posted in the public account "Tut.dagestan" on Instagram.

"The hospital personnel have been working without protective items for more than a month [...] The administration of the Central City Hospital did not react to the doctors' complaints about the absence of personal protective items [...] All the personnel work in home-made masks," the statements from the doctor's appeal are quoted in the post on Instagram. According to him, doctors have to pay their own money to purchase medicines and protective items.

The Ministry for Public Health of Dagestan has reported about launching an internal inspection of the chief physician of the Central City Hospital of Dagestanskiye Ogni. "In social networks, users are disseminating the appeal written by one of the medical officers from the Central City Hospital. In his appeal, the doctor complained about complete inaction and lawlessness of the medical institution's administration amid the coronavirus pandemic. The chief physician denies all the facts listed in the complaint. However, specialists from the Ministry for Public Health of the Republic of Dagestan will conduct an internal investigation," the Dagestani Ministry for Public Health announced in its statement.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 1, 2020 at 01:40 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.