Prokopyevsk Care Home Neglect Exposed After Flu Deaths

For about a week, discussions have not subsided around the psychoneurological care home in Prokopyevsk, Kemerovo Oblast, where a flu outbreak has affected many residents. Amid the public outcry, as always, various authorities have taken control of the situation, inspections have begun, but no one has officially announced the cause of the outbreak yet.

At this time, employees of the institution turned to the editorial office of NGS42.RU for help. According to them, what happened is not an accident, but a logical outcome of how mentally ill patients have been tormented with rotten food, cold, and indifference in recent years. We publish details about what is happening behind closed walls at the request of the staff.

Several months ago, the Prokopyevsk care home for the mentally ill already appeared in news reports. It became known nationwide that helpless residents were fed spoiled semi-finished products, meat, and vegetables. Photos of disgusting rations were sent by the employees themselves — they said they were forced to serve meals in such a state, which they were tired of.

After the flu outbreak, which sent over 50 care home residents to the hospital, workers again contacted the editorial office. The staff asked for help — to publish their revelations about working in an institution where, they say, psychiatric patients are systematically tormented.

“There Was No Nightmare Like This Before”

According to the workers, the scandal with nutrition in September did force law enforcement and inspectors to visit the institution. Violations were, of course, found. But as soon as the inspectors left, the residents were again fed rotten food.

And by mid-November, residents began to be struck down by an unclear «infection.» The staff says that the care home management decided to hide the outbreak, and no quarantine was introduced.

— Their temperature rose sharply. They came to the medical station, said they had severe headaches, some had coughs, runny noses. The nurse said she didn«t know what was happening, but they were forbidden to give them fever reducers. No one took them to hospitals, they were waiting for something, — recalls Marina (name changed at the request of the employee who fears dismissal. — Ed.).

On New Year«s Eve and during the January holidays, according to the worker, the sick became really bad. But most were hospitalized only after everything spilled over into social media. Law enforcement and inspectors from the Ministry of Social Protection, Rospotrebnadzor (Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing), and the Ministry of Health immediately arrived at the care home.

Marina and her colleagues wanted to tell the inspectors about the November events, but director Elena Morozova allegedly did not let them.

— You see, no one wants to hear us. So many days they are looking for the cause, but no one has approached us, the employees, to talk. I have been working in the care home for about 10 years, before that my relative worked here, but there has never been such a nightmare, — admits Marina.

In the opinion of the interlocutor, the virus was most likely brought into the institution by one of the residents who was taken for examination to the city hospital back in November. And the infection spread so quickly and easily due to the weak health of the residents. Moreover, Marina assures: it is not chronic mental illnesses or age to blame, but the immunity that has been systematically killed over the past year. In fact, people were almost not treated for three months.

According to the workers, the mentally ill are still systematically fed rotting food, frozen in residential buildings, and not treated for colds. In general, there are also such employees who treat the mentally ill old women and grandfathers as soon-to-be guests of the morgue.

— In many buildings, especially downstairs, the cold is incredible. Everyone complained, and the worst is in the fourth building where bedridden patients are, imagine what it«s like for them. They changed our radiators, but it didn»t help. Now, of course, before the inspectors arrived, they turned everything up full, closed the windows, — notes Marina.

On top of that, staff who sincerely empathize with patients are allegedly planning to have their salaries cut. According to Marina, some have already had their number of shifts reduced, redistributing the load to one person, others have been threatened with removing additional payments.

— They explained it to us by saying that the institution simply has nothing to pay salaries with. The bureau said: «There is no money in the budget for you,» — stated the Prokopyevsk residents.

Missed Tuberculosis

Another employee, Anna (name changed at the request of the heroine who fears dismissal. — Ed.), also confirmed that sanitary rules are systematically violated in the institution. For example, due to the lack of necessary equipment, kitchen workers are forced to grind meat, fish, vegetables, and ready-made food for bedridden patients in one meat grinder.

At the medical station of the care home, there are no basic medicines, and no one pays attention to the complaints of residents. It got to the point that in the spring of 2025, the institution did not immediately learn that two residents had developed an open form of tuberculosis. But the director even managed to hide this from higher management.

— We would like to show that there are no conditions. But we cannot even talk to the inspectors. It«s as if we are being ignored, — complains Anna.

According to the publication«s interlocutors, after the staff tried to break through to talk to specialists from the Ministry of Health and Rospotrebnadzor, suspensions from work began. Some were even hinted at dismissals if they tried to change something, but the workers are tired of the management»s negligent attitude to real problems.

Journalists learned about the outbreak of illness in the psychoneurological care home several days ago. The authorities of Kuzbass reported a few hours later that all people hospitalized with flu were asymptomatic. Meanwhile, according to the latest data, at least one of the residents is in serious condition.

The Ministry of Social Protection stated that mass vaccination was carried out in the institution shortly before the outbreak, and there were no obvious violations in the center, including with nutrition, were not found.