Translation of neweurasia’s post (RUS)

Radio “Poitakht” is currently airing a series of programs dedicated to the battle against tuberculosis. As usual, everything is officially going great.   One is encouraged to “wash one’s hands before eating,” and reminded that “it is better to be healthy and rich than sick and poor.”

The pictures you see in this post are of a once-famous sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. “Red October” is situated in Tashkent, where it had been operating successfully until the end of the 1980s – that is, until Uzbekistan’s independence. It is actually open to this day, or, to be more precise, what remains of it is now a part of Hospital No. 2.

As they say, it is better to see something once than to hear about it a hundred times. I should remind readers that tuberculosis is a serious problem, and large funds are allocated towards fighting it around the world.

So what are we doing about it? This year, the already-insufficient funding is being cut because of Tashkent’s 2200^th anniversary celebration. Of the allocated funds, only 22% has been paid out. The attitude towards everything is miserly and economical; starting from food and medicine, which are primary needs, crucial to proper treatment, and ending with electricity: the former are constantly undersupplied, and the latter is turned off at 8 pm, leaving even the bathrooms in darkness. Yet the real problem is not the 2200^th anniversary of Tashkent. It is evident from the pictures that the facilities did not deteriorate in the course of days, but rather through neglect over the past 20 years.

The sick buy much of their own medicine, but not all can afford to do so. Tuberculosis treatment is officially free, and patients who do not successfully complete it are classified as chronically ill. Interrupted treatment causes tuberculosis to grow resistant to drugs, making it considerably more difficult to fight.

During the Soviet era, the hospital wings shown in these photos were filled with patients. Where are they now? Given the number of people who have gone through independent Uzbekistan’s prison system, given what working conditions are like for locals and immigrants, the number of those afflicted has only risen – and they walk among us, inadvertently spreading the disease.

The government has found an easy solution. They no longer conduct population-wide check-ups to detect tuberculosis in its early stages (via fluorography). Now, if one wants to have an examination, it is no longer free, and neither are subsequent visits, if they are necessary. Tuberculosis clinics have been ordered not to register or accept patients, except in cases where the disease is obviously present (e.g. coughing up blood).

Seeing these photographs and the attitude towards the problem, I believe genocide is taking place in Uzbekistan. Tuberculosis is a public hazard, and those afflicted are usually in the lower strata of society. In the Uzbekistan’s case, this means the main part of the population.

Of course, in discussing this problem I cannot fail to mention the doctors, nurses and other hospital staff working at Hospital No. 2. The government may have forgotten about its people, and its attitude towards the nation’s health is evident in these photographs; but those who work here continue to exercise their professional duty despite the meager pay. In many cases they use their own money (!?) to maintain and repair the facilities in which they work. At 6 am the floor has already been swept, the plants, flowered, etc. In sick wards floors are washed 5-6 times per day. Drugs and other medical procedures are administered strictly.

All this testifies to the fact that the problem simply lacks the government’s attention. Or, perhaps, the government is deliberately not noticing how the problem has deteriorated? As far as qualified workers, land, buildings are concerned – there is no shortage, all that is lacking is the government’s goodwill.

I repeat that we are talking about the health of a nation. Tuberculosis is a governmental problem, and its solution should be of primary importance.

This letter will be electronically distributed to the President of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Health, etc. in anticipation of the 2200^th anniversary of Tashkent. I remind you that the hospital in question is in the city.

As a reminder that we need not only palaces for the servants of the people; we also need hospitals and sanatoriums and schools and playgrounds for the people themselves.

Perhaps, the one hand does not know what the other is doing?

Of the hospital’s 11 wings, only 3 or 4 currently function. Some are partially dilapidated, but people continue to work inside.

Ilnur Abdulov, human rights activist, Alliance.

24 August 2009. Tashkent, Uzbekistan.