The Nizhny Novgorod Geriatric Center illegally refused hospitalization to 12 elderly people

The Nizhny Novgorod prosecutor's office revealed violations in the city geriatric center, which refused to admit patients to hospitalization due to a lack of funds. The Ministry of Health became interested in the situation in the institution.

A prosecutor's inspection at the Nizhny Novgorod Geriatric Center (city hospital No. 3 of Nizhny Novgorod) confirmed violations of federal legislation. As it turned out, in November, due to a shortage of funds, the hospital refused hospitalization to 12 patients.

Let us recall that in November, publications appeared in the Nizhny Novgorod media that a hospital specializing in the treatment of elderly people stopped hospitalizing patients for several days due to the fact that it had exhausted the funding allocated to it for the year through the territorial Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund. Based on the results of the prosecutor's audit, it was confirmed that 12 patients were denied hospitalization. Only one woman decided to undergo paid treatment. While the audit was underway, she was reimbursed 10 thousand rubles. and hospitalized the remaining patients free of charge, that is, in fact, the violations were eliminated. But the regional prosecutor's office still demanded that the regional Ministry of Health bring the perpetrators to disciplinary action. “According to the law “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation,” medical institutions that operate in the system of providing care under the state guarantee program must provide services to patients free of charge,” the department emphasizes.

The regional Ministry of Health promises to comment on the prosecutor's submission as soon as it receives it. Previously, representatives of the ministry called information about the hospital’s refusal to admit hospitalization “unreliable and disturbing the population.” However, the deputy chief physician for medical affairs, Alexei Volkov, who acted as the chief physician, was nevertheless asked to write an explanatory note on where such information appeared in the media. In addition, the ministry decided to “release him from additional duties” (acting chief physician) due to “non-compliance with the procedure for hospitalizing patients.”

It should be noted that the Federal Ministry of Health became interested in the situation in the Nizhny Novgorod region: Minister Veronika Skvortsova instructed the Federal Compulsory Health Insurance Fund and the Healthcare Supervision Service to conduct an inspection at the hospital.

They have not yet responded to Kommersant’s request about its results.

Alexandra Vikulova, Nizhny Novgorod

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The prosecutor's office provided assistance to patients