Dangerous ramp traps Moscow pensioner as district refuses repairs
An 80-year-old pensioner from Moscow is forced to go for dialysis three times a week (a procedure for artificially cleansing the blood of toxins and excess fluid. — Ed. note.). She is confined to a wheelchair, and her health deteriorates with every descent and ascent to her apartment. The culprit is a dangerous ramp that the district office refuses to repair, insisting on installing an elevator. MSK1.RU spoke with the victim«s son and tried to unravel the bureaucratic intricacies.
«My mother is disabled. I take her in a wheelchair three times a week for dialysis. There is a ramp in the entrance, but it»s hard to keep the wheelchair on it, especially for a physically weak person. Mom has even been dropped several times — by my brother or by paramedics,« said the pensioner»s son Alexei.
Navigating a wheelchair down the ramp in the entrance at Varshavskoye Shosse, 114 is like riding a roller coaster. The tile it«s made of is slippery. Moreover, the structure has no internal restraints that could prevent the wheelchair from tipping.
Alexei has no desire to put his sick elderly mother at risk, so he wrote an appeal to the Chertanovo Severnoye district office requesting that the ramp be made safe.
«I initially asked to at least make one corner — weld or simply attach a metal strip so the wheel wouldn»t slip off. Then the wheelchair couldn«t be dropped,» Alexei said. «We appealed to the district office — and got a simply masterful response. Instead of making guides, they immediately write that an elevator needs to be installed — and for a lot of money.»
This response came into the possession of the MSK1.RU editorial office. According to the district office«s statement, repairing the current ramp is unsafe.
«For safe movement, a stationary ramp or lifting platform is necessary. A stationary ramp for a rise of seven steps must be more than 20 meters long, so this structure does not meet the dimensions of the entrance,» the district office noted.
Instead, the district office suggested that Alexei apply to the city«s Department of Labor and Social Protection with a request to install an elevator.
«A month has already passed, the request hasn»t been considered yet, although they initially promised to do everything instantly. How much more time it will take is unknown. Again, a new application needs to be written,« Alexei shared. »Mom«s kidneys have completely failed. I»m just losing heart because this is some kind of horror! I would do everything myself, but then they«d make me remove it.»
And indeed, a lot of time will be needed. According to an MSK1.RU source close to the procedure for formalizing such structures, first an application for elevator installation must be submitted and one must wait their turn for consideration. Then the prefectures of administrative districts conduct an inspection of the residential premises and common property of the apartment building. After that, a commission decides on the presence or absence of technical feasibility for installing an elevator.
«A Muscovite with musculoskeletal disorders who needs adaptation of the common property of an apartment building must present an individual rehabilitation or habilitation program for a disabled person, containing recommendations for providing a wheelchair,» states the website of the Department of Labor and Social Protection.
Moreover, after the elevator is installed, one must wait for it to be put into operation.
Whether Alexei«s 80-year-old sick mother will wait for an elevator or at least a ramp repair is an open question. The man himself seems to be one step away from taking matters into his own hands.
Earlier, a disabled person and multiple sports champion Yaroslav Svyatoslavsky gave an interview to MSK1.RU, in which he told how he got injured, and also about what made him return to life and become a champion.
