"Corpses don't breathe." Orderlies who transport the bodies of the dead in Moscow complained about a lack of protective equipment

In Moscow, orderlies from the forensic medical examination bureau, who transport the dead, including those infected with COVID-19, reported a lack of protective equipment and additional payments for working with coronavirus.

As Mediazona writes , bodies are delivered to the Moscow Forensic Bureau from hospitals, from accident or crime scenes, from houses where the deceased lived. The bureau conducts forensic or pathological examinations.

The bodies are transported by employees of the department of registration, mortality analysis and transportation of bodies of the bureau. 117 people work as car drivers; they are also employed part-time as orderlies, the capital’s health department clarified.

Bureau employee Vladimir Borisov told Mediazona that before the start of the pandemic, orderlies-drivers worked in shifts, every two days. Now everyone overworks 50-60 hours a month. According to him, 22 vehicles have to transport about 500 bodies per day, but this is “physically impossible, so there are bodies left for the next day.”

Borisov said that for safe transportation there must be at least two sealed zippered bags per body, but they are not given to the orderlies. “We take the body, apply a special disinfectant to our trough, put in the special paper that Rospotrebnadzor prescribed for us, and take it to the morgue,” he explained.

Another employee of the bureau's department, Sergei Ivanov, complained about the lack of protective equipment. According to him, he has to work in a gauze bandage, ordinary glasses and suits, which often tear.

Nurse drivers said that they were not warned whether the deceased person had coronavirus. According to one of them, in recent months many of his colleagues had signs of acute respiratory viral infection, but only two were confirmed to have COVID-19.

Mediazona’s interlocutors added that they are not entitled to an additional payment of 25 thousand rubles for working with coronavirus. According to Borisov, the Moscow Health Department told them that “corpses don’t breathe,” so their work is considered safe. Borisov noted that the real salary of orderlies is 60-70 thousand rubles; they are not paid extra for overtime.

The press service of the Moscow Department of Health confirmed that incentive payments are provided only for health workers who directly provide assistance to patients with coronavirus. Transporting the bodies of the deceased is not a form of medical care. But, as officials assured, the average salary of an orderly is 97,441 rubles per month with an average work schedule of five daily shifts.

The department added that orderlies are given all the necessary personal protective equipment, including third class respirators, without restrictions.