Elderly people from the Kozeletsk geriatric boarding house are left alone with their illnesses

This was established by the monitoring group of the Department for the Implementation of the National Preventive Mechanism of the Commissioner’s Secretariat together with public monitors during a visit to the Kozeletsk Geriatric Boarding House of the Chernihiv Regional Council.

Out of 201 wards, 103 are disabled, 43 are bedridden, and 45 are physically disabled. In fact, all have serious illnesses and are registered with the dispensary, but they do not have the opportunity to receive sufficient medical care. The doctor and nurses of the institution, whom the wards adore, are powerless: funding for the supportive treatment of wards of geriatric institutions with chronic diseases is not provided for by law. “We haven’t received any medicine for the last two years, and we can’t buy it with our meager pensions,” the patients of the boarding house complain.

There is no talk of surgical treatment at all – they don’t want to put such patients in hospitals. And in August, oncologists at the regional hospital refused to hospitalize a patient whose glands on his face were literally bleeding. After seven hours of examinations… they simply returned him to the boarding house without providing any help! Oncology patients in the thermal stages are relieved of pain with Ketanov and Analgin with Dimedrol. This situation is typical for geriatric institutions, and for Kozeletsky it is also complicated by the large number of people with severe chronic diseases.

Another problem of this institution is the insufficient care of bedridden patients.

“The department smells of urine. The residents are not taken out for walks, they lie without diapers, some lay in beds without underwear,” noted the monitor Valeriy Grets.

The reason for this is insufficient funding: the institution’s fixed capital has hardly increased in four years. In addition, the small number of junior medical staff, as well as their involvement in seasonal household work, have a negative impact.

A third of the boarding house’s places remain vacant, although there are many people who want to live. Living in the village is much more difficult for a frail, single person – all the residents admitted this. However, a single sick person cannot overcome the complex procedure of obtaining the necessary certificates for placement in such institutions. So they are left to die without possible help, and geriatric institutions are not operating at full capacity.

The boarding house staff is trying to provide full-fledged nutrition, using the capabilities of a “strong” subsidiary farm, created conditions for living for married couples, concerts, work of clubs and libraries diversify the lives of people who are forced to spend the last years of their lives in the boarding house. As a positive, the monitors noted the employment of wards in the household, who receive payment for their work, in particular under an employment contract.

Recommendations for solving problems and eliminating identified shortcomings will be sent to the leadership of the regional state administration and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine.