“Frozen, hungry”: in Chuvashia, people undergo fluorography on the bus for six months

Residents of Alatyr were unlucky with medical research

Six months ago, the central regional hospital in the city of Alatyr in Chuvashia was left without a fluorograph. Residents were offered to undergo the procedure on a bus, which arrives a couple of times a week. Recently, a video was published in the city public: a huge queue lined up near the old “groove”. Voice-over comment: “I’m shocked! Medicine in the 21st century!” People shared their impressions of the medical procedure.

A video of a bus in Alatyr, where a fluorography procedure is being carried out, received hundreds of comments.

“I passed by. I didn’t dare to poke my head in, there were too many people, and there was a dud on the street,” wrote a local resident.

“They practically fight in line. Everyone is angry, hungry, and frozen. We stood there for 4 hours,” the woman commented.

“People are standing in the cold, many are sick,” the subscriber added.

“Why are you unhappy with everything? He comes, and thanks for that,” the man tried to calm down the ardor of his fellow citizens.

The Central Bank of the Alatyr region did not deny the problem. Employees explained the situation online: “In the hospital, the fluorograph was broken and cannot be repaired. Next year we plan to purchase new equipment.”

We talked to people who stood in line.

— The fluorography machine has not been working since about June. In the summer, a bus also came to us. Huge queues formed, people fainted from the heat, it was 35 degrees, says a resident of Alatyr. — At the beginning of autumn, the bus with the fluorograph did not arrive. We were given directions to the neighboring city of Kanash, 150 kilometers away. But there are no buses there, only the train twice a day, at 5 am and at 16 pm.

The interlocutor’s husband had a fluorography on the bus.

“We’ve been calling the reception desk since the beginning of November, asking when the bus will arrive. No one knew. We found out by chance from friends. We arrived at 8.30 because they didn’t tell us the exact opening time. There were about twenty people standing on the street; some more people took a turn and moved away. The bus opened its doors at ten.

Patients enter the “groove” one at a time. They undress inside. From the street you can see naked people on the bus. But after half an hour or an hour of waiting in the cold, no one cared anymore, just to get through faster. From ten to twelve o’clock approximately 35 people were received. At noon the staff left for lunch, leaving the crowd waiting outside. We ran to the clinic and a nearby cafe to warm up.

At 13.30 it was our turn. At two o’clock in the afternoon the bus left. Those who did not make it in time were no longer accepted.

As a result, five hours of waiting in the cold, frozen feet, chapped face.

Another woman shared her impressions:

“We had a very old fluorography machine in our city, it was probably three decades old, and it broke down.” We were told that they would receive a new one at the beginning of the year. But it will probably only start working by summer. Until then, welcome to the bus.

I stood for more than three hours in the cold. The bus itself is warm, but cramped. A tall, healthy man will definitely not turn around there. While they were standing in line, people joked that they needed to put up tents, a heated cannon, and a samovar. You can be indignant, but what’s the point? So you have to get used to it…