The Russian Ministry of Health said that 40 doctors have died from COVID-19. “Memory List” criticized the data and calculation methodology

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, in an interview with Interfax, said that during the coronavirus pandemic in Russia, 40 doctors have died from the disease. Chairman of the Independent Medical Society Alexey Erlikh told Taki Dela that he does not agree with these data.

Murashko emphasized that the most verified information about how many doctors have died from COVID-19 in Russia is the number of cases for which lump-sum insurance payments were made. According to him, the Social Insurance Fund has now made 40 payments in the country.

In addition, there are cases that are being investigated, the minister added. In his opinion, doctors who work in full protection and according to all the rules “minimize their risks.”

Cardiologist Doctor of Medical Sciences Alexey Erlikh does not agree with the minister’s data. He is one of those involved in the Memory List project, a list of doctors, nurses, orderlies, laboratory technicians and other medical workers who died during the coronavirus pandemic. Currently there are 526 names listed there.

Ehrlich emphasized that the minister was talking specifically about doctors, while their project named the names of all medical workers who died from the coronavirus. Nevertheless, half of the dead on the list, maybe a little less, are Russian doctors, Erlich explained.

“Most likely, this is bureaucratic idiocy. He said that we consider only those to whom money was paid to be dead. Of course, this is an abomination. It’s an abomination to count the dead by the number of insurance payments,” says the doctor.

In Russia, medical staff are entitled to one-time payments, the amount of which depends on the severity of the consequences. If an employee dies from a coronavirus infection, his family will be paid 2,752,452 rubles. But the Social Insurance Fund transfers funds only if a doctor becomes infected at work and not at home. It is very difficult to prove this, and often commissions make decisions not in favor of health workers.

At the end of May, the Ministry of Health announced that 101 health workers with COVID-19 had died in Russia.

In June, Roszdravnadzor reported that, according to unofficial data, 489 doctors infected with coronavirus died in Russia. “We were talking about data circulating on the Internet,” the department noted.

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that he does not know on the basis of what statistics the media draw conclusions that the mortality rate among Russian medical workers is higher than in other countries. Peskov emphasized that only the Ministry of Health has official information.