• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Drug Policy and Law
  • Harm Reduction
  • Activism

Drugreporter

News and Films from the Frontline of the War on Drugs

  • News
  • Café
  • Videos
  • About Us
  • EN
    • HU
    • RU

She Survived, in Spite of Her Treatment

June 14, 2016 | Author: Igor Kuzmenko

Tweet

Patients call the Yekaterinburg Hospital, located at 37 Kamskaya Street, the “final journey”. This hospital is for patients with tuberculosis and other severe diagnoses. They usually leave this place in black bags.

TB facilities generally do not like drug-dependent people, and try to avoid them. But here, the procedures are especially strict. For example, even a smear-positive patient may be released from the hospital if he breaks the internal rules. “Later he comes back anyway, – says Natalia. – Though not on his own feet, but in a blanket, going straight to the intensive care unit…”

“You lie in your bed at night, thinking and suffering. Dying feels scary. But you can’t just go and ask your doctor, he won’t tell you anything. In the morning, you go to the smoking room and see black bags carried past you. Three people are carried away every week. You stand there, and they are dragging him, with his head bumping the stairs… People say: “If you go to Kamskaya, it is the same as going to the cemetery.” That is how another patient, Aleksandr, described his stay in this hospital.
It has been like this here for a long time. Three years ago, activists were agitating about the fact that there were no drugs in the hospital to treat drug-resistant TB, no ICUs, no specialists apart from the TB treatment doctor, no care for bedridden patients, very poor food, no consumables – syringes, etc., no drug treatment doctor to help drug-dependent patients (even though most of the patients use drugs), no hot water. Even patients with active tuberculosis had to take a bus to go to the AIDS centre to get their medication, making people around them hysterical with their protective masks. Now they bring ARV drugs to the hospital. Everything else is still the same. When we asked what to bring them, patients asked for… 2 ml syringes for the whole department.


This is the story of Natalia Sannikova. She is very similar to thousands of others with tuberculosis in Russia – apart from one thing: she survived, against all the odds, in the most terrible conditions –  in a hospital specialising in drug-dependent people with HIV and tuberculosis.

Natalia Sannikova spent a year in this place. She was taken to the hospital with pulmonary tuberculosis, and after six months here, contracted bone tuberculosis. She saw patients dying, and others being discharged as a punishment, or having their catheter removed to make them feel worse. She was discharged with active tuberculosis, and then the ambulance refused to take her back. She saw patients lying in their own excrement.

“The doctor was talking to me as if I was a dog. I was asking her why I kept losing weight and was not getting better, asking how my test results were.” Tatyana Aleksandrovna told me, “Why do you care about your tests? You’ll kick the bucket in two Mondays.”
But Natalia survived. Now she is a volunteer with the New Life Foundation, helping people like herself to get treatment. Hand in hand, she leads people through long queues, offences and stigma – the fate of everyone in Russia who is drug-dependent and has TB. Trying to make sure it is not their final journey.
Igor Kouzmenko and Alex Kurmanevsky, DUNews

Filed Under: Articles, DUNEWS, Video Database Topics: Drug Policy and Law, Harm Reduction, Russian Drug Policy

Access to this article is free - but to produce articles and videos is not. Drugreporter is a non-profit website that needs your support to provide you with high quality contents.

Become a supporter and make a donation of 5 $ today!

Kapcsolódó cikkek:

The Italian Anti-Rave Law Violates Human Rights – Interview with Susanna Ronconi

February 1, 2023 - Péter Sárosi

40 Years in the Frontlines of Harm Reduction in Ireland – Interview with Tony Duffin

December 20, 2022 - Péter Sárosi

Decriminalisation in Portugal: Through the Lens of People who Use Drugs

December 5, 2022 - István Gábor Takács

Kapcsolódó videók:

Decriminalisation in Portugal: Through the Lens of People who Use Drugs

December 5, 2022 - István Gábor Takács

Drugreporter News | 2022 November

November 24, 2022 - István Gábor Takács

Harm Reduction in Athens – With the Eye of an Outsider

November 23, 2022 - Péter Sárosi

You can browse our topics here:

Activism COVID-19 Criminalisation Dose of Science Drug Consumption Rooms Drug Policy and Law European Drug Policy Harm Reduction Hepatitis HIV/AIDS Marijuana Policies Medical Marijuana Needle and syringe programs New Psychoactive Substances Opiate Substitution Overdose Prevention Psychedelic Medicines Regulation and Control Russian Drug Policy Sex Work United Nations Drug Policy US Drug Policy

Primary Sidebar

BECOME A SUPPORTER OF DRUGREPORTER! INVEST THE PRICE OF A COFFEE MONTHLY AND MAKE SURE DRUGREPORTER KEEPS RUNNING!
Subscribe to the Newsletter!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Search

Drugreporter Video Database

Hundreds of videos on drug policy, harm reduction and human rights for streaming and download, also on a world map!

DRUGREPORTER NEWS

Monthly drug policy news from around the world

Drugreporter café

In our new online video show, we regularly discuss new developments in the world of drug policy with professionals, activists and decision makers. You can also listen to the Drugreporter Café in Podcast format on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

COVID-19 Harm Reduction Update

On this info page Drugreporter provides regular updates about resources and news on how harm reduction service providers respond to the COVID-19 Epidemic.

Drugreporter Video Advocacy Network

Browse videos produced by members of our Drugreporter Video Advocacy Network, from all around the world!

DRUG USERS NEWS

Russian language videos on drug policy, harm reduction and human rights.

Our award winning animated documentary movie is based on the original audio recording of Kostya Proletarsky, a drug user and HIV activist who died as a result of mistreatment and torture at a Russian prison. Festival appearances, news and resources are available here!

Footer

Rights Reporter Foundation
Hungary, 1032 Budapest
San Marco Street 70.
Email: rightsreporter@rightsreporter.net

Search

Our other websites:

The Rights Reporter Foundation

The Autocracy Analyst

Room for Change Campaign

Room in the 8th District Campaign

A Day in the Life movie website

Drugreporter