The St. Petersburg authorities have forbidden the medical staff of the city hospitals to travel abroad, although they have never made such trips. Since the beginning of the war, St. Petersburg doctors have been allowed to travel to CIS countries only for personal reasons, but the management cannot control such trips. The presence of a military ticket creates more serious problems for medical workers during mobilization – at Pulkovo airport the border guards do not allow women with medical education to leave Russia, even though they have never worked in their field.
Doctors in St. Petersburg are discussing a letter from the head of the city’s health committee, Dmitry Lisovets, about the almost complete ban on travel abroad. Hospitals received it on October 10 (the BBC has copies of several letters with postage stamps). On a copy in Alexandrovskaya Hospital there is a resolution that reads: “Inform the staff.” On a copy in another hospital it simply says: “To everyone!”
Letter from the Chairman of the City Health Committee. The ban applies to employees of 110 organizations under the city authorities. These include 30 hospitals, 17 dispensaries, seven maternity hospitals, six clinics, two hospices, nine sanatoriums, three stations (emergency medical services, blood transfusion and disinfection), 21 medical centers, two offices (pathological anatomy and forensic examination), six colleges, two technical schools, as well as institutions involved in procurement and medical transportation.
The head of the Health Committee orders its employees to refrain from business trips abroad – they are allowed only in “exceptional cases and only by order” of Governor Alexander Beglov. In addition, the requirement not to travel for personal reasons anywhere except the CIS countries “remains in effect”. The letter does not specify who, when, and why this requirement was established.
A source in the administration of one of the city’s hospitals told the BBC that employees had already received a similar letter about private travel in February, immediately after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We have never taken business trips abroad. As for personal travel, everyone is aware of that. However, we have never monitored and cannot control the whereabouts of employees during their vacations,” he explained.
In the Health Committee, they told “Fontanka” (the publication was the first to report on the letter) that the “requirements” to refrain from private trips abroad were merely advisory. In essence, they extend the previously published recommendations of the Russian Foreign Ministry to citizens – not to travel to Estonia and Great Britain. The fact that the document of the St. Petersburg Committee does not have legal force, confirms its absence of registration – it is issued on an official letterhead, but without an “outgoing” number and date, as required by the rules.
You can receive such notifications at St. Petersburg Airport.
Even before the mobilization began, military draft offices began sending summonses to hospitals in St. Petersburg. According to the source interviewed by the BBC, 10 summons were sent to one of the major hospitals with the wording “for document verification”. The source said they were sent to two or three doctors and technical staff, including IT specialists and a courier. The employer delivered summonses to seven employees, but three could not be summoned – some could not be found, some were sick. The administration does not know how many hospital workers received summonses at their home addresses. Everyone who received a summons at this hospital showed up at the military draft office on the first day of mobilization – there they picked up their military cards. The hospital says that two or three people from this list were drafted, but they are still listed as “in training. Two IT specialists, without whom the hospital could not run the software, were able to get a deferral – at the draft board, they first promised to consider their request for a deferral, saying, “If we can do without them, we’ll let them go,” and eventually they were released.
In other civilian hospitals, two or three people have also been mobilized, according to medical professionals in St. Petersburg. “Two drivers and a paramedic were taken away – and they want to take more,” said Averbakh of Coris. According to him, more significant personnel losses are related to the fact that people are “scattering”. “We’re managing for now, but it won’t be long before it becomes critical,” Averbakh replied to a question about how this affects the work of the emergency services. He clarified that of the 80 main employees of the company, about 30 are in reserve and subject to mobilization, and five have already resigned because of this. It will be difficult to replace half of those who can be called up, including ambulance drivers with experience and specialized training, and doctors will be even harder to replace, Averbakh admits. According to a BBC source, the number of senior residents (deputy heads of departments) has been reduced at the Military Medical Academy, which treats a daily flow of severely wounded patients from Ukraine. These positions were held by military doctors with officer ranks. The reduction coincided with the mobilization period, and it is unclear where they were transferred to serve, the source notes.
