Kuzbass Governor to Form Emergency Team After Nursing Home Deaths

Specialized agencies, deputies, and public representatives of Kuzbass will join an emergency team regarding the situation at the psychoneurological nursing home in Prokopyevsk. Specialists will carefully examine each case of death among the mentally ill at the institution, Governor Ilya Seredyuk said on social media on Thursday, January 29.

The regional head emphasized that the Ministry of Social Protection immediately responded to the mass outbreak of influenza at the institution. A commission has been working in Prokopyevsk for several days, and materials on the situation have been handed over to law enforcement.

«The information about what happened at the psychoneurological nursing home in Prokopyevsk is serious. It is about seriously ill people and human lives. Regardless of age, health condition, presence or absence of relatives—every fatal case requires careful analysis,» the publication states.

The governor plans to return to the region from a business trip on January 29 and assemble the team. According to the head«s promises, participants will make specific decisions regarding the incident and the operation of other nursing homes in the region.

Kuzbass authorities confirmed the information from NGS42.RU about the deceased residents of the nursing home where a mass outbreak of illness occurred. The commission identified nine deaths, with the youngest being 19 years old and the oldest 79.

Representatives of the Kuzbass Ministry of Social Protection claim that all psychiatric patients died precisely from chronic conditions, not influenza or its consequences. However, a federal expert, a cardiologist, confirmed to us that the primary cause could have been the virus.

The nursing home staff previously told NGS42.RU that mentally ill patients were kept in cold rooms and fed spoiled food, despite employees« complaints.