Penza, 31 August 2015. PenzaNews. Six activists of the youth civil organization “Modern Age Generation” (MAG) held a picket by the Penza region Health Ministry hall in the evening of Monday, August 31, with demands to lay off the current minister Vladimir Stryuchkov.

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The picket coincided with the work of a boom gate truck and a watering truck, even though the beginning of the day was marked with rain.

None of the ministry staff left the building during the protest that lasted from 17.30 to 18.00.

However, after the protesters unraveled the banners reading “Conscience cancer is untreatable!”, “Have software, need medicine,” and “Stryuchkov is hazardous to your health,” the activists were approached by Oleg Vikulov, section manager of the law violation prevention and civil and religious organizations issues department of the Penza city administration, who informed them of several violations they conducted.

In particular, he cited the federal law “On Gatherings, Meetings, Rallies, Protests and Pickets,” pointed out that the organizer of the event has no markings on his clothes, and asked them to show their medical equipment for emergencies.

In return, the protesters created makeshift name tags out of notepad sheets and procured a first aid kit from one of the cars, thus rectifying the issues.

The event was monitored by two police officers, several people in civilian clothing, and Alexander Frolenkov, head of the regional branch for the civil movement “For nationalization and deprivatization of country’s strategic reserves,” member of initiative group for referendum “For Responsible Authorities,” former promoted candidate for the Penza region gubernatorial election from “CHESTNO” party that received no signatures in his support from municipal deputies to bypass the so-called “municipal filter,” who remained passive but supportive of the protesters.

At the end of the event, the board chairman of “Modern Age Generation” Ivan Finogeev read out the resolution that received unanimous support.

“[…] We demand to undertake measures to improve control over the effectiveness of budget spending in the Penza region healthcare field; conduct an audit of expenses in the Penza region Health Ministry during the introduction of the current information support system through the healthcare modernization program; lay off the current minister V.V. Stryuchkov,” it reads.

The activists plan to send the resolution to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, the chairman of the Russian Account Chamber Tatyana Golikova, and the acting governor of the Penza region Ivan Belozertsev.

As PenzaNews agency reported earlier, the acting head of the Ministry of Health in the Penza region Vladimir Stryuchkov announced during the August 24 regional government meeting session that the healthcare system needs 200 million rubles for development of a new information support system, as “further developing and using the current system is out of the question.”