February 28, 2023, 08:00 – BLiTZ – News
A 100-year-old WWII veteran in Moscow was left without a nurse and without access to a toilet. As a result, an elderly person with pneumonia found himself in the situation of a child: powerless and in a diaper. Instead of an individual relationship, which is prescribed, the veteran faced the indifference of the system, said a close friend of the veteran Svetlana Berdichevskaya.
“Viktor Ivanovich was first brought to one hospital, and after 3 days in the cold they were sent to another, to the opposite end of the city. Here he ended up with five bedridden patients in one room. The institution does not provide an individual nurse, and his patronage sister is not allowed in, the toilet is located at the other end of the corridor, where it is cold.
After my complaints to the hotlines, someone from the authorities approached Viktor Ivanovich. Upon learning that the problem was in the toilet, it was recommended to put a diaper on the elderly man, although he is able to take care of himself. And diapers at his age very quickly lead to bedsores. Such an attitude is tears and shame. This is how problems are solved from above,” Svetlana Berdichevskaya was indignant.
Viktor Ivanovich Selitsky turned 100 last October. He went through the entire war as a private in the first trench, a participant in the battle for Moscow and the Battle of Kursk.
At the beginning of last week, the veteran was hospitalized with suspected pneumonia at the Voronovskoye Moscow Clinical Center for Infectious Diseases. And then on the day of the Defender of the Fatherland, he was unexpectedly transferred to the Hospital for War Veterans No. 1.
The nurse, as well as relatives, are not allowed into the hospital in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Health on measures to combat coronavirus infection. Although, again, the veteran has pneumonia, not COVID-19. But the rules work for everyone.
Svetlana Berdichevskaya began to complain to all instances, she was even ready to pay for a paid ward, where they promised to provide the veteran with a nurse. But in the end it turned out that the commercial department does not provide treatment, only rehabilitation is possible there.
“The attending physician Natalya Alexandrovna went to meet them – Viktor Ivanovich was transferred to the ward next to the toilet. But the fact itself revolts: the veteran, the long-liver remains out of the attention of the system. The Mos.ru website has a section on veterans, which talks about an individual approach to solving their problems. But in reality this is not the case.
Who absolutely cynically decided to take a person in the cold to another hospital? Where is the reaction of departments and other state organizations? A huge number of jobs and hotlines have been created, but the system does not work, they only say “this is not for us” and play football,” the woman said.
Viktor Ivanovich is a very modest and courageous person, he himself will never ask or complain. Although he is hurt to tears, Svetlana Berdichevskaya shared.
“We do not have a goal to complain about someone, there is a task to identify the problem. From my own experience, I know that after complaints, for some reason, the lowest link gets it, and not the authorities, who make decisions and have the right to influence something.
And now I am again afraid that the officials will have claims against the attending physicians, although, I repeat, only Natalya Alexandrovna showed sincere humanity in this situation. It is necessary to change the system that allows indifference to the elderly,” the woman believes.
This is not the first time the veteran has faced the callousness of the medical system. When he started having problems with his eyes and needed an operation, he had to go through all the instances, starting with the clinic.
“There is no individual relationship. The entire health care system seems to be at odds with the Department of Social Security. They seem to have no zones that, logically, should intersect, and they always blame each other. And lonely elderly people should run on their own legs through the authorities and wait in lines. The issue must be resolved from above, at the level of legislation. At least for those few veterans of the Second World War, to finally make medical and social assistance comfortable, not humiliating, ”the woman outlined the problem.
The public news service sent a request to the Hospital for War Veterans 1 of the Moscow City Health Department with a request to provide Viktor Ivanovich with an individual nurse. But I would like to see the problems of the elderly paid attention not only in the hospital, limited by the rules.
I would like the officials of the Ministry of Health, the Department of Health of Moscow and the social assistance authorities to also join in resolving the issue of helping the elderly. After all, Selitsky is not the only elderly person who turned out to be helpless against the system with its prohibitions and numerous bureaucratic obstacles.
