Penza, 12 November 2014. PenzaNews. The repairs in the infectious diseases department of the Nizhny Lomov regional hospital are continuing day and night, said the Minister of Health in the Penza region Vladimir Stryuchkov after personally visiting the institution.
The hospital came into the spotlight after the “Time will show” program on Channel One that aired the photos made by an elderly citizen Vasily Myrsin, showing the current state of affairs in the hospital ward for WWII veterans.
“We expect to complete the repairs by December 1, 2014,” the minister clarified.
According to Vladimir Stryuchkov, his visit also included a meeting with the staff dedicated to a web-published collective appeal on the bad conditions in the regional hospital.
“The hospital staff were surprised by the claims written in the appeal and called them outdated. They assured me their labor is built on collective and professional relationships, and that all the questions are solved as they come. I also found out who submitted the appeal, and the man in question admitted to doing that. Besides, we found out he holds a grudge against the hospital CMO [Vladimir Atyakshev]. I suggested the ways to solve the problem: it would be his task to make the choice,” stressed the head of the local Ministry of Health.
He added that met Vasily Myrsin himself in the hospital.
“We discussed all the points of trouble. I gave full replies to Mr. Myrsin, and he was satisfied,” claimed Vladimir Stryuchkov.
On October 22, 2014, Vasily Myrsin where he told about the current state of disrepair in the infectious diseases ward of the Nizhny Lomov regional hospital in the Penza region.
According to him, he was holding off the footage for some time, expecting the officials to keep their promises to repair the building, but their inaction pushed him to make the news public.
The November 10 TV program “Time will show” on Channel One was dedicated to the issue of the helplessness of the elderly. It began with the video footage by Vasily Myrsin, who went on hunger strike and refused to take his medicine to protest against the dilapidation in the clinic.
The TV show involved both the maker of the footage and the Minister of Health of the Penza Region Vladimir Stryuchkov. The minister admitted feeling deeply ashamed of such a state of affairs in the institution within his jurisdiction, but added that the case of the Nizhny Lomov hospital is an exception from the rule.
He also said that the guilty party – the former head of the hospital – has been punished and was fired from the office.
During the discussion, the TV talk show participants addressed the issue of insufficient funding of welfare institutions – the cause of endemic country-wide problems in all the regions.
