Just pure rage.
For 20 years, Putin and his government have been sitting on unimaginable oil money. Every year they report on how healthcare is growing and improving.
And every time they emphasize that oncology is the sacred cow of our healthcare system. All efforts are supposedly focused on fighting these diseases.
And within that sacred cow there is an even more precious golden egg: pediatric oncology. Watching TV coverage of all those official meetings, you would think that at least in this area they spare no money, no effort, and no painstaking work to preserve medical teams.
And then—bam. You see an appeal online from pediatric oncologists.
All (!!) pediatric oncologists at the Research Institute of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology of the N.N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center say they have already submitted resignation letters and will leave unless the new management stops harassing them and salaries begin to be calculated transparently.
They say that for years, children with cancer have been kept in wards without ventilation, with walls eaten away by mold.
They show pay slips with salaries like these.
And the ending, of course, is staggering. We've already appealed to everyone; nobody gives a damn about us. So now they're turning simply to ordinary decent people: if you don't support us and hear us out, then no one will.
How did we get to this after 20 years of “stability”? Why is this happening?
Just so you understand, these are the very people who perform more than half of all pediatric transplants related to oncology in Russia.
MORE THAN HALF. What will happen if they resign?
And if this is happening in Moscow, in the biggest and most important hospital with budgets in the billions, then what must the rest of the healthcare system be like?
I think it's very important for all of us to respond. If they are reaching out to us and asking for support, then they should find it.
At the very least, let's share their appeal so everyone knows about this. And I am also going to contact all three groups of independent deputies in the Moscow City Duma and ask them to get involved as well.
Solidarity is everything.