In Russia, three frontline healthcare workers mysteriously fell out of the hospital windows over the past two weeks. The incident raises public attention to the real working conditions for doctors and other medical professionals in Russia amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Among the three doctors, two of them have died while one remains hospitalized.
The Russian law enforcement authorities are now investigating the three incidents, but it has prompted intense discussion among the Russian press and on social media sites.
The incident in Novousmanskaya hospital
Ambulance doctor, Alexander Shulepov, from the city of Voronezh located about 320 miles south of Moscow, is now in serious condition after he fell out from the second-floor hospital window last Saturday, May 4.
According to the local state television, citing regional health officials, Shulepov was receiving treatment at the Novousmanskaya hospital- where he also worked- after testing positive for coronavirus. He was hospitalized on April 22, and on the same day, he posted a video together with his colleague Alexander Kosyakin saying that Shulepov had been forced to continue working even after contracting the deadly disease.
The police previously questioned Kosyakin for allegedly spreading fake news when he posted on his social media a criticism regarding the hospital administration for protective gear shortages. He confirmed these details to CNN in an interview.
He said that Shulepov was already in the intensive care unit and in a serious condition, as far as he knows. The last time Kosyakin spoke to Shulepov was on April 30 when they checked in with each other. He added that Shulepov felt fine and was getting ready to get discharged from the hospital when all of a sudden, the incident happened. The reason was not yet clear, and so many questions are yet to be answered regarding the event.
In a separate interview, the regional department of the health ministry of Russia said that Shulepov "is a victim of an accident due to his own lack of caution." Furthermore, they said that Shulepov was receiving all the necessary medical care before falling out of the window.
Meanwhile, the police refused to respond to CNN's invitation for a comment.
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Moreover, Novousmanskaya hospital said in a statement that they had immediately taken Shulepov off his shift when he informed the hospital administration of his positive diagnosis. He was then offered hospitalization in the infectious diseases ward, according to Novousmanskaya hospital.
Three days after posting his video with Kosyakin, Shulepov retracted his previous statements saying that he was "overwhelmed by emotions" while filming the video. He uploaded another video featuring the hospital's head doctor, Igor Potanin, who noted that the hospital's medical staff has enough protective equipment.
In the past two weeks, Shulepov was the third health worker to fall out of a hospital window in Russia.
Two other doctors falling out the window
The acting head doctor of a hospital in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk died on May 1 after spending a week in the intensive care unit, according to the Health Ministry. Local TV station TVK Krasnoyarsk reported at that time that Elena Nepomnyashchaya allegedly fell out of a window during a meeting with regional health officials while discussing their plans of turning the clinic into a coronavirus facility.
According to reports, Nepomnyashchayahave opposed to those changes because the clinic does not have enough protective gear. It was later on denied by the Health Ministry's regional health department stating that the hospital is in "reserve" for coronavirus patients, and its staff has been trained and well-equipped.
Like the police in Shulepov's case, the hospital refused to comment on the issue.
Another similar scenario happened to Natalya Lebedeva, head of emergency medical service at Star City, the primary training base for the cosmonauts of Russia, when she died after a fall on April 24. The hospital within the Federal Biomedical Agency said that the Lebedeva is treated for suspected coronavirus and that a "tragic accident" occurred. They did not elaborate further and did not respond to CNN's request for a comment.
They said in their statement that Lebedeva was a true professional in her field, saving lives every day.
Anastasia Vasilyeva, the head of the Alliance of Doctors union, said that she did not think that anyone was deliberately targeting doctors. Instead, these incidents likely reflect the stress doctors are under in an underfunded system during the pandemic crisis.
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