Press Release, 31.03.2020

Photo: Arthur Gaiduk, an ambulance doctor and MP of the Pskov Regional Assembly (the Yabloko faction)

Arthur Gaiduk, an ambulance doctor and deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly from the Yabloko party, gave a commentary to the Press Service of the Pskov branch of Yabloko on the situation with COVID-19 in the region and the safety of healthcare staff.

Arthur Gaiduk, who is a doctor in the Pskov city ambulance station, is concerned about doctors who work with patients every day without sufficient personal protective equipment. Arthur Gaiduk said that the exception is now made only for communication with people with an epidemic history, who, for example, were abroad or communicated with those who have confirmed coronavirus. At the same time, health workers are at the highest risk of infection and, in the absence of protection, they turn into agents of the spread of the virus.

According to Gaiduk, it is necessary to purchase the required equipment and materials at the expense of the budget in order to establish the production of anti-epidemic suits directly in the Pskov region. This will provide medical facilities with personal protective equipment in an amount sufficient for the continuous work of all personnel of all medical organisations of the region in anti-epidemic suits, since without this it is impossible to protect medical staff. “If the epidemic develop according to the Italian and the Spanish the scenario where the collapse of the medical system occurred, the load on the doctors will be overwhelming. It is already starting to increase due to patients with symptoms of acute respiratory viral infection. Some of these patients are actually ill with COVID-19,” Arthur Gaiduk expressed his concerns.

He also specified that all medical workers, without exception, who come in contact with sick people should be protected – doctors, paramedics, nurses, technical staff, nurses, cleaners, drivers, and not only in Pskov and other hospitals prepared to receive patients with coronavirus, but in all, without exception, medical institutions of the region, including medical and obstetrical stations and offices of general practitioners.

It should be noted that on March 15, Pskov deputies from Yabloko Arthur Gaiduk and Lev Shlosberg sent an appeal to Mikhail Vedernikov, Governor of the Pskov region, and Alexander Nesteruk, head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare in the Pskov Region. It contained a detailed list of 17 specific and urgent measures to counter the threat of the spread of the COVID-19 in the Pskov region. Most of these measures have been gradually implemented in the Pskov region.

Later, on March 25, Arthur Gaiduk and Lev Shlosberg sent a request to Marina Garashchenko, Chair of the regional Heathcare Committee, in which they asked for detailed information about the preparedness of the healthcare system of the Pskov region for the coronavirus epidemic.

On March 26, at the initiative of deputies from all factions, the parliamentary hour of the Pskov Regional Assembly was devoted to the prevention of the spread of coronavirus infection. The report on measures to prevent COVID-19 in the Pskov region was presented by Marina Garashchenko, head of the regional Healthcare Committee.

During the discussion Lev Shlosberg touched on the issues of ensuring intensive care beds and the safety of healthcare workers, and separately addressed the need for financial assistance to the region from the federal budget and the maximum openness of the authorities in a situation of high level of anxiety in society.