Kemerovo Polyclinic No. 5 Accused of Bureaucratic Torture

A reader from Kemerovo, who has spent years fighting for the life of her husband suffering from aggressive cancer and battling the Kuzbass healthcare system, contacted the NGS42.RU newsroom.

Over this time, she has grown accustomed to long lines, indifference, and the fact that treatment sometimes has to be literally fought for. However, the family never expected that a routine visit to Polyclinic No. 5 for a referral would become the last straw and a true theater of the absurd. The woman recounted the harrowing medical thriller to a correspondent.

A Terrible Diagnosis

Misfortune struck the Kemerovo family of Dmitry and Irina at the end of 2017. Outside, it was December, with pre-New Year bustle and illuminations. The couple was preparing to celebrate the holiday when biopsy results arrived from the hospital: cancer was found in the husband«s larynx.

Their subsequent life turned into an endless nightmare of queues at the dispensary, dozens of courses of chemotherapy and radiation, brief improvements, and severe relapses. After four years of struggle, doctors gave a grim verdict: surgery was unavoidable. The couple went to Tomsk to double-check the diagnosis, and the tumor was removed there.

— Everything went fine, but two and a half weeks later, bleeding started. He was urgently operated on again, and half of his neck, the entire front part, was removed. When my husband was discharged, they showed us how to do dressings and care, — Irina says.

At that time, Dmitry worked as a driver for a management company, so he urgently needed to extend his sick leave. The family is attached to Polyclinic No. 5 at their place of residence, which is notoriously known in Kemerovo for its poor quality of patient care.

— Imagine: November, winter, an open throat. At home, we did a dressing and went to the otolaryngologist Svetlana Volodina. I have the right to accompany my husband to every appointment as a first-group disabled person. The doctor received us very poorly, attacked us for coming without an appointment. I explained that he had an open sick leave, but she didn«t care, — the woman recalls.

The man, who had recently undergone complex and traumatic surgery, had to wait two hours in the corridor queue. Eventually, the doctor invited him into the office but did not let his wife in, although it was obvious that the patient could not speak for himself.

— He was discharged with necrosis and pus. For plastic surgery on his neck to be possible later, the wound had to heal. At home, I applied 10 layers of bandage, napkins, ointment. Svetlana Sergeevna didn«t remove this dressing: she pulled it back, sprayed it with chlorhexidine — and that was the entire treatment, — the Kemerovo woman says.

After that incident, Dmitry decided to trust dressings only to his wife. He visited the facility only for sick leave notes, and each time the couple argued with the attending physician. This continued until 2023.

— I reached the then Health Minister Beglov, handed over a complaint at a personal reception. I said, «Your doctors nearly killed my husband; only my persistence saved him,» — Irina says.

After the investigation, the chief physician and the head of the department apologized to the family. The couple let the situation go: all their strength was going into fighting the severe illness.

A Deadly Quest

Just a month ago, the facility once again showed where the lives and health of patients rank for its leadership, and where bureaucracy does.

— At the beginning of summer, my husband underwent an examination, and the results worried the doctors. We were sent for a consultation with an ENT at the veterans« hospital, where they explained they couldn»t help because it«s an oncological profile. A Tomsk hospital agreed to admit him for treatment. But for that, we needed a referral from the polyclinic, — the woman explains.

Dmitry had to return to the «five» for an appointment with a therapist. And then an inexplicable «football» began. The district doctor said that tests for hospitalization needed to be done by appointment in a separate office, and after that, he would need to make another appointment with her to get the referral.

They managed to book another appointment with the therapist only five days before hospitalization. But Irina wasn«t panicking: the timeframe seemed sufficient. The couple took the tests on time and showed up for the appointment with the results.

— We arrive, and she says from the doorstep: «I won»t give you a referral; oncologists should issue it.« I was stunned: two weeks ago, she told me the exact opposite to my face. I asked her to consult with her superiors; I couldn»t believe it could be like this. They confirmed that the referral couldn«t be issued. And the weekend was ahead, and there was no time left! And that day, the oncologist wasn»t seeing patients, — the woman recalls.

The next day, the couple again came for an appointment, this time with the duty therapist, with the same request. Another doctor explained that in Kuzbass, by Beglov«s order since 2024, a ban on hospitalization in other cities had been introduced.

— I«m in horror, I don»t understand what to do. The next day, I took time off work, and we were at the polyclinic early in the morning, breaking through to see oncologist Artem Arutyunyan. He says: «We won»t issue anything; either the therapist or the ENT should do it,« — the woman shares the absurd situation.

The couple turned to a nurse for clarification, who had her own version of why hospitalization in Tomsk was impossible. To issue a conclusion, it turns out, a special commission needed to be assembled, which takes three to four days. When asked why no one had warned the patient two weeks earlier, there was no answer.

After learning the whole story of the couple«s ordeals, the medic suggested they all go up to the fourth floor to the leadership together, but the corridor turned out to be closed.

Irina called the Health Ministry hotline — no one answered. Then luck struck: one of the hospital employees went to the same floor, and the Kemerovo woman slipped in behind her. It turned out that a meeting was taking place in the high offices, and a secretary and senior nurse came out to the visitor.

— I say: «Are you mocking us?! We»ve been walking around for an hour and a half, yesterday my husband walked for two hours.« Together we went back down to the attending physicians. They argued for a long time, nodding at each other. In the end, they decided that the issue couldn»t be resolved without Deputy Chief Physician Konstantin Miroshnikov, — the woman says.

When the delegation waited for him after the meeting, he again confirmed the unofficial order from the Health Ministry not to send patients to other cities. This angers Irina the most: they wouldn«t have strived to go to a neighboring region if the same quality treatment could be obtained locally.

— In the end, he talked on the phone with colleagues for a long time, consulting. After that, our therapist, whom we had seen from the very beginning, called me: «Irina Sergeevna, come over, we»ll give you the referral.« I was literally stunned: the needed document is being signed by the doctors whose thresholds we»ve been fruitlessly pounding for so long, — the woman smiles bitterly.

If They Don«t Treat, They Cripple

When the husband and wife picked up the paper, they breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out to be premature. As soon as they left the ill-fated facility, the phone rang again. The therapist reported that the referral had been filled out with an error.

— My husband arrived an hour later — the new referral wasn«t ready. He waited another two hours. When the document was given, it turned out to be exactly the same as the previous one. The only difference was that the first referral had two signatures, and the second had three. And we spent a whole day on this, — Irina says.

The situation is grim: a person is in trouble, and each extra day reduces the chances of successful treatment. There are doctors ready to take responsibility and help. And there is the Kuzbass Health Ministry system, which instead of helping, throws wrenches in the works and literally mocks the patient. Irina and Dmitry«s family was lucky: the wife»s loud voice was enough for both of them. What happens to Kuzbass residents in a helpless state, with no one to stand up for them, is terrifying to imagine.

Earlier, we told how a medical examination goes at Polyclinic No. 5.