An incident revealed how things really stand in Russia: They trample over corpses

An incident revealed how things really stand in Russia: They trample over corpses

According to Deutsche Welle, on October 27, it was not possible to find a free bed in the hospital for two elderly patients who were seriously ill with COVID-19 - at 7 pm. Emergency medical crew eventually took them to the regional health service to warn political leaders of the existing problems.

Seen from the outside, the second wave of the pandemic in the Russian Federation is proceeding more peacefully than the first. The restrictions are not as strict as in the spring and most stores are open. But the number of people infected with the coronavirus in this vast country is growing unstoppably. Authorities say that is because more people are being tested now. But news coming from the region indicates that it is not just about testing. Patients die from lack of oxygen.

On the night between October 11 and 12, 13 patients died in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia. This terrible news was published by members of their families on social networks. According to their announcement, it happened in a city hospital specially equipped for patients with COVID-19. This information was later confirmed for the local media by the employees of the hospital, who, however, wished to remain anonymous. The services there, as well as the governor, dismiss it as fake news.

Last weekend, lawyer Ekaterina Gordon published on Facebook the story of doctor Artur Toporov, an intensive care physician at the hospital in Rostov-on-Don, which he later confirmed for the newspaper "Nova Gazeta". He works in the corona ward at the mentioned clinic, and during the disputed night he was on duty and reported problems with oxygen delivery. That night, the hospital's chief doctor, Yuri Dronov, also contracted the coronavirus, and on October 26, it was learned that he had died, apparently in another clinic, where he had been transferred due to problems with oxygen delivery.

In the meantime, the director of the Health Service of the Rostov-on-Don region, Tatiana Bikovska, resigned, as did the director of the Health Service of the city of Rostov, Nadezhda Levitska. Doctors warn of health collapse.

"In the Kurgan district of southeastern Siberia, patients have to wait for days for ambulances. They have been waiting for a doctor from the polyclinic for seven days or more. There are no more free beds in hospitals, and there is staff deficiency".

This was written in an open letter to President Vladimir Putin by employees and patients from four hospitals in the region, warning about crowded morgues.

A video taken by employees of a morgue in Novokuznetsk, southwestern Siberia, was shared on social media last week. It shows a room full of black bags with corpses. "Everything is full of corpses, we trample over their heads," says the author of the video.

The situation is similar in the Kemerovo region in western Siberia, the health service there admits. The reason for the overcrowded morgue is the fact that the members of the deceased want to take over the remains of their loved ones only when they recover from the coronavirus infection. There is also a lack of pathologists. The chief doctor of the hospital in Taganrog in the south of Russia recently stated that corpses are being placed under the staircase in his hospital.