In the Sverdlovsk region, people are waiting for hours for ambulances after optimization.
The Severouralsky Municipal District has streamlined its ambulance service. Now, there are only two ambulances available for the entire district (34 residents). Residents are forced to wait several hours or drive themselves to the doctor.
“They told us to go ourselves because the ambulance would arrive in two hours,” “We also went ourselves, but at the children’s emergency room they threw up their hands, said there were no proper doctors, and sent us home without even providing first aid,” write residents of the district.
Activists are trying to reach out to the authorities: they published petition They plan to record a video message from those who have already encountered problems with medical care. However, no one has yet volunteered to speak publicly.
"Some activists are trying to highlight this chaos, but most remain silent, and the authorities are taking advantage of it. Besides the ambulance service, we have problems with the maternity hospital—it's closed, and women are being transported 60 km after giving birth to Krasnoturyinsk. There's talk now of closing the children's clinic for renovations, and where sick children will be taken is unknown. As for recording a video message, everyone's afraid of losing their jobs or simply being misunderstood," an activist from Severouralsk told NeMoskva.
He says he's tried to organize protests, but no one shows up. The last time residents gathered was last summer, over the lack of cold water.
"The city has plenty of problems; the entire region is slowly crumbling, despite the glowing reports from city mayors. Our hospitals used to have 50 beds, but now they're down to about 25. The day hospital at the clinic is being merged with the hospital where people stay 24/7. And they'll cut beds again," the activist says.
Optimization of medical institutions is underway in all regions, and the Sverdlovsk region is no exception. In cities close the only maternity hospitals, tuberculosis dispensaries, will be re-profiled clinics for the needs of the military.
