Press Release, 26.09.2023

Photo: Vladimir Dorokhov speaking at the rally / Photo by Dmitry Chebanov

Past weekend, a rally was held against the closure of the radiological unit of the oncology department of the city hospital in the city of Novomoskovsk, the Tula region. About a hundred people gathered at the rally. The organisers managed to get a permission for the rally only upon the second time. The rally was ignored by local journalists. The leader of the Tula branch of Yabloko, Vladimir Dorokhov, spoke in support of the demands of the protesters.

According to residents of Novomoskovsk, four years ago Alexei Dyumin, the Governor of the Tula region, promised to preserve the radiological unit and provide new equipment for it. However, new equipment did not appear in the hospital, and healthcare workers were informed of their dismissal in October. Dozens of city residents being treated in the oncology department will have to travel to Tula for diagnosis and therapy. According to the protesters, the queues at the radiology department of the Tula Oncology Centre are twice as long, the equipment at the Tula Oncology Centre often breaks down, and patients are not admitted for months. In addition, long trips can be dangerous for cancer patients.

Local activists from the public organisation “Parents of Novomoskovsk and Uzlovaya” applied to hold a rally against the closure of the radiological unit in the city centre. However, the city administration sent those who disagreed with the “optimization” of the medical facility to the outskirts of the city. The organisers tried to get a permission for the rally in the city centre for the second time, but were forced to hold the rally in the so-called “Hyde Park”, a specially designated place where rallies up to 100 people can be hold without permission from the authorities.

Vladimir Dorokhov, the leader of the Tula Yabloko, noted in his speech at the rally, that complaints of the authorities about the lack of money in the budget were far-fetched.

если тульский областной бюджет сэкономит только на пропаганде, то этого хватит на многое. Мы посчитали, что за последний год расходы на пропаганду в нашей области составляют больше 300 млн рублей. Так вот если эти 325 млн рублей потратить на онкологические отделения, можно не только Новомосковск обеспечить, но и Ефремов, и Алексин и другие крупные города», – выступил Владимир Дорохов.

“They often cite the fact that there is not enough money. But what amounts are we talking about in the case of the radiology department in Novomoskovsk? These are not even hundreds of millions of roubles, but several dozens only. And if they ask where to get this money, I can say: if the Tula regional budget saves only on propaganda only, then this will be enough for a many things. We calculated that over the past year, propaganda expenses in our region amounted to more than 300 million roubles. So, if these 325 million roubles are spent on oncology departments, it will be possible to provide equipment and treatment not only Novomoskovsk, but also in Yefremov, Aleksin and other large cities,” Vladimir Dorokhov stressed.

It should be noted that Novomoskovsk is part of the so-called Chernobyl Zone: In 1986, the territory of the city and the region suffered serious radioactive contamination due to the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.