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Lukashenka orders crackdown on private clinic in Minsk over post-surgery death

 

Alyaksandr Lukashenka has ordered the dismissal of the medical personnel and managers of Ecomedservice, a large private clinic in downtown Minsk, who are responsible for the death of a young woman after plastic surgery.

The head of state has directed that the health ministry supervise and manage Ecomedservice, the presidential press office said, adding that “the future of this commercial organization will be determined soon.”

The State Control Committee has been ordered to audit the clinic’s records, while the Investigative Committee has been told to punish those responsible for the death with all severity, the press office said.

Yuliya Kubarava, a 25-year-old resident of Hrodna, underwent reconstructive nose surgery at Ecomedservice on March 26. As her anesthesiologist told BelaPAN, “Yuliya felt like everybody else does after such operations.”

An ambulance was called for the woman at night, after a nurse noticed that her condition had not improved. Ms. Kubarava was taken to Minsk City Clinical Hospital No. 4. She stayed there comatose for four weeks and died on April 23.

According to the anesthesiologist, as many as 1679 anesthetic procedures were performed in the clinic last year, and none of them resulted in the death of a patient.

On April 27, the chairman of the board of founders of Ecomedservice, Uladzimir Kayava, issued a statement in which he offers his condolences to the family of Ms. Kubarava. “The staff of the Ecomedservice medical center express deep condolences to the relatives of our patient and grieve with them,” the message said. “An inquiry is currently conducted into what happened. Until its completion, it would be premature to make final conclusions about the causes of the tragedy.”

The clinic’s staff will not give any interviews about the incident because this would constitute a breach of medical confidentiality, the statement says. // BelaPAN